EM Lawshare Framework Agreement for Legal Services

West Northamptonshire Council (the Authority) is acting as lead authority and running this procurement on behalf of the EM Lawshare (EMLS). This procurement is being conducted in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 and is being conducted through the Competitive Flexible procedure to identify the Potential Suppliers for the requirement. This is a Light Touch procurement. EMLS is a consortium of public bodies (the Consortium) that have been procuring legal services frameworks over the last 20 years. This procurement is for a new framework agreement to replace an existing one that is expiring on 31 March 2026. Contracting authorities will be required to be members of the Consortium in order to use the new framework agreement. There are just over 240 contracting authorities signed up as members to use the existing framework agreement. 82% of these are local authorities and parish councils located in England and the remaining 18% is made up of wholly owned local authority subsidiary companies, blue light services, park authorities, combined authorities, NHS bodies, police and crime commissioners, universities and colleges. A full list of current members signed up to use the existing framework can be seen by using this link to the EMLS website: https://emlawshare.co.uk/directory/ The number of contracting authorities signed up to use the current framework has grown significantly from the number using the initial framework set up 20 years ago when seven local authorities in the East Midlands initially started undertaking procurements as a consortium. The range of users has also spread geographically so it now extends country wide and includes some of the largest local authorities in the country such as: Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Nottingham and Sheffield City councils and Cornwall, Kent, Somerset, Derbyshire, Oxfordshire and North Yorkshire councils. The EMLS has now formalised its consortium arrangements in the form of a new Consortium Agreement intended to strength