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Criminal Defence Service Direct
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About this tender
Criminal Defence Service Direct (CDS Direct) is a telephone helpline that provides non means tested legal advice direct to members of the public suspected of criminal offences and detained by the police.
You can view the findings from the recent six-month evaluation of the pilot on the Criminal areas of work>Police stations>CDS Direct page.
The LSC has recently carried out a consultation on the expansion of the Duty Solicitor Call Centre and CDS Direct.
Visit the CDS>Recent consultations pages to view the consultation document and the LSC’s final response.
About the tender process
The LSC has invited organisations to tender for CDS Direct contracts. The tender process began with an invitation for Expressions of Interest from organisations interested in providing the full service.
This stage of the process (Stage 1) closed on Friday 9 March 2007 and the evaluation of all Expressions of Interest received has been completed.
Organisations shortlisted at Stage 1 have been invited to submit full bids.
All guidance and forms for submitting full tenders are under Related Documents.
The latest version of the draft contract is also under Related Documents. This contract may be subject to minor revision prior to award.
This Invitation to Tender is only open to those organisations invited to put in full bids.
Deadlines
This tender is closed.
A timetable for the tender process is under Related Documents.
Please note that the LSC reserves the right not to award any contract relating to the subject matter of this notice.
Additional information
The deadline for submitting questions about the tender process has passed. An up-to-date Q&A is under Related Documents. This contains all questions submitted so far, including those raised on the Invitation to Tender and earlier stages of the process.
The LSC held a Pre-Tender Open Meeting on 31 October 2006. The presentation from the meeting and accompanying notes and handouts are in the document archive.
Those who are submitting a bid where the bidding organisation is not a solicitor's office (as recognised by the Law Society) should consider obtaining a waiver to any practice rules. Guidance on applying for a waiver of Solicitor's Practice Rule 4 is contained under related documents.
Last updated: 01 November 2007