The Scottish Executive, the executive arm of the Scottish Parliament, is midway through a review and is understood to be intent on stripping back the existing 12-strong roster to just six firms.
Tenders are currently being evaluated by the Executive’s Justice Department, with a final announcement due in May.
The existing panel, which was unveiled in the summer of 2003, includes
The Scottish Executive was established in 1998 and oversees policy concerning the Scottish health service, transport, justice, rural affairs and education. The body manages an annual budget of around £30bn.
One partner at a Scots panel firm told Legal Week: “It is an extremely valued contract. The public sector represents a significant proportion of legal work in
The news comes as it emerges the UK Government has delayed the launch date of the new line-up for its centralised super-panel ‘L-Cat’ by three months after being swamped with more than 100 formal responses.
Contracts for the panel were initially due to expire on 30 April but the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which runs the 33-firm roster, will now launch the new-look model towards the end of the summer.
It is understood the OGC has whittled down successful firms into shortlists to cover eight specialist subgroups, including its new major projects panel, which is designed for projects worth more than £100m.
The new projects panel has also attracted the interest of many leading corporate firms for the first time, with Shearman & Sterling, Linklaters and Allen & Overy understood to have submitted formal bids for the work.Whitehall spending through L-Cat rocketed last year by 100% to hit £13.3m.
