Very High Cost Case (Crime) Panel

On this page:

Invitation to tender for the Very High Cost Case (Crime) Panel
VHCC Panel Contract
Questions and answers
Latest updates

Invitation to tender for the Very High Cost Case (Crime) Panel

The application process for the Very High Cost Cases (Crime) Best Value Panel Tender began on 5 June 2007.

Please see the Documents panel for application materials. Applicants must download the following:

Information for Applicants (IFA)
Exclusion Criteria Form
Application Form
Capacity-Price Bid Form
Equal Opportunities Form

The LSC will not be providing hard copies of these documents. Please download them from this page.

Please check the Latest updates section at the foot of this page.

VHCC Panel Contract

Final drafts of the VHCC contract documentation

We have published final draft VHCC contracts for panel members and for panel advocates together with their associated annexes on the Crime contracts>Very High Cost Case Contracts page.

Former drafts

The original draft VHCC Contracts for Panel Members and Panel Advocates are under Documents.

Questions and answers

We have published the final Tender Q&A document answering all questions received up to the deadline of 12 noon on 6 July 2007. Questions received after this time will not be answered.

Applicants should note that we have amended a number of answers published previously. These questions have been identified on the front page of the Tender Q&A document.

Applicants are advised to read this document and the Information for Applicants before submitting their application.

Please note if you have any questions relating to the extension of the tender deadline please e-mail cartervhcc@legalservices.gov.uk.

Latest updates

Final drafts of the VHCC contract documentation

We have published final draft VHCC contracts for Panel Members and for Panel Advocates together with their associated annexes on the Crime contracts>Very High Cost Case Contracts page.

VHCC Panel results - date of announcement

Due to the large volume of applications and supporting materials we received in response to this tender, it is not possible to finalise the assessments of the applications before the end of November 2007.

We are therefore looking to inform applicants whether they have been successful in early December 2007. This is well in advance of the panel start date of 14 January 2008.

Policy statement

A policy statement on "Criteria for classifying 25-40 day cases as VHCCs" has been published. Please see the Documents panel for the policy statement.

Tender extension

The tender deadline has been extended in certain circumstances and to allow certain bidders who have made applications to submit additional information.

This deadline is now 12 noon on Friday 17 August 2007.

Please see the Tender Extension letter in the Documents panel for full details.

If you have any questions relating to the extension of the tender deadline please e-mail the Carter VHCC team.

30 July 07

We have received two letters from representatives of the Bar Council. These have prompted us to extend the tender deadline in certain circumstances and to allow certain bidders who have made applications to submit additional information.

The new deadline is 12 noon on Friday 17 August 2007.

Applications accepted after 12 noon on 27 July 2007

The Documents panel on this page contains the document VHCC Tender- Extension of Tender 20 5.30 pm on 27 July.

This document contains details of applications that were accepted following extension of the tender's closing time to 5.30pm on 27 July 2007. Also included are details of late applications that were accepted for other reasons.26 July 2007

Advocate signatures on application forms

Although the answer to Question 85 states that each application must include at least one original signature from each advocate included in the application, it will now be acceptable for the original and copy application forms to include photocopied or faxed versions of Section 3.

The answer to Question 54 on the Q&A document has been amended.

Applicants should read the Q&A document and the Information for Applicants before submitting their application.

9 July 2007

Due to an error on our part, Annex A: Assessment Table stated that the points required under the desirable criteria to achieve an assessment of ‘Very Good’ was 9-12. This was incorrect. This has now been amended to correctly show 9-11. In addition, the comments on the desirable criteria that were missing from the previous version have now been added.

June 2007

We have amended the following two documents (using tracked changes):

VHCC Panel Member Contract Standard Terms (draft) – at clause 9
VHCC Panel Advocate Contract Standard Terms (draft) – at clause 7.

The changes concern the criteria, set out in the two documents, regarding the contracting of 25 to 40 day cases. The changes that have been made clarify that the additional criteria apply to 25 to 40 day cases only.

June 2007

Due to a technical error on our part while converting a document to PDF, the Essential Criteria was not added to Annex A: Assessment Table. The Essential Criteria has now been added and can be found under the Documents panel in Annex A: Assessment Table.

June 2007

The Tender Q&A in the Documents panel contains answers to Questions 10a, 17c, 18c, 18f and 23 (shown in bold in the Q&A document), which we wish to draw to the attention of applicants.

As a result of Question 18, changes have been made to section 3 of the Application Form and the Client section of the Equal Opportunities Form.

This tendering exercise does not constitute a binding contract. We reserve the right not to award any contract relating to this tendering exercise.

Changes to the Information for Applicants

Following enquiries from providers we have clarified two sections of the Information for Applicants (IFA):

Size of bids – page 22. This had stated that an applicant’s maximum bid would be based on the number of VHCCs started and completed in the Qualifying Period. The maximum bid will now be based on the same definition of a Qualifying Case for experience purposes - i.e. it will not require cases to have been completed.
Converting advocacy time into hours for experience purposes - this is now covered on page [24] of the IFA. See “Qualifying Hours”.

The LSC’s forecast of the number of cases it expects to contract is now included on pages 20-21 of the IFA. This sets out how the actual forecast has been calculated together with a wide range of historical data about VHCCs.

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Last updated: 31 December 2007