Decision details

The award of a contract to Thomson Reuters for the provision of a broad range of reference material, case law, and expert information for Legal Services.

The contract is for 12 months starting on 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024. No extensions are available.

The contract value is £95,689.05 (exc VAT).

Proceeding with a short-term contract represented best value for the new council by ensuring that the service was in place for the new council from 1 April 2023. All eight former councils had individual contracts in place with Thomson Reuters for this service with multiple end dates and access to various, often reduced, reference material subscriptions. This enabled the council to consolidate eight contracts down to one utilising a standardised subscription that increased access for many transferring staff.

The council are members of EM LawShare and as members can access the pricing agreement in place between EM LawShare and the supplier for this service. A short-term contract enables the council to consider options, including testing the market, in advance of the expiry date.

The service cannot be provided in-house.

No other alternate options were considered. The priority was to ensure that the service was in place from 1 April and to align and consolidate the eight contracts down to one. The council could also access the remaining year of the EM LawShare pricing agreement ensuring that the shortest feasible term was put in place to enable re-procurement in advance of expiry.