Double victory for West Midlands Police

Clarke Willmott has successfully defended West Midlands Police (“WMP”) in two significant public procurement challenges.

The challenges were brought by unsuccessful bidders in relation to two separate tenders concerning contracts for the supply of WMP’s IT services and consumables (the “IT Contract”) and WMP’s restorative justice programme (the “RJP Contract”).

Proceedings were issued by an unsuccessful bidder in the Technology & Construction Court (“TCC”) against WMP in 2018 in relation to its failure to be included at the Invitation to Tender stage for the IT Contract. The litigation was pursued by the claimant with little thought as to the merits of the challenge or its cost to the public purse. Ultimately this was to no avail. The claimant served a Notice of Discontinuance unilaterally withdrawing its claim from the court lists without trial on the basis that it would pay WMP’s legal costs. Those costs are currently subject to assessment by the Senior Courts Costs Office in London.

The second challenge was brought by an unsuccessful bidder for the RJP Contract which alleged bias in WMP’s tender process. The high profile challenge was originally initiated under the 10 day standstill period under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 but did not proceed to court following extensive inter party correspondence with the challenger’s solicitors. The RJP Contract is now in place providing valuable services to victims of crime across the West Midlands.

WMP was represented by Richard Moore (Partner) and David Stedman (Associate) of Clarke Willmott LLP in both matters.