Best Value Tendering for CDS Contracts 2010 - A Consultation Paper
The highly probable and undesirable consequences of the proposals to force solicitor’s firms to compete in auction for contracts to continue to do publicly funded police station and magistrates’ court work will be to undermine criminal justice system.
It has been a great strength of the Legal Aid system that client’s have had highly valued relationships to a solicitors firm. Our client’s are often the "socially excluded" powerless and in very troubled circumstances. Our engagement with them in resolving problems and achieving best outcomes has both a high personal value but also a positive social value in delivering "rights" and justice. The quality of what we do is essential in providing courts the information needed to reach legitimate outcomes.
The LSC's latest consultation paper detailing its proposals for the auction of contracts at lowest prices (so called "best value tendering") will drive many firms out of business; the quality of service provided by the survivors will decline further and legitimacy of the criminal justice system will be undermined.
The LCCSA will be publishing a full response to the consultation but it seems the government is committed irreversibly to a draconian and surreally complex system which puts at risk all that has been rightly lauded as 60 years of Legal Aid success. The Association hopes that you will read the consultation and lodge your own response. It would appear that only an overwhelming rate of objection and criticism may deter the government from launching a truly bizarre scheme upon Legal Aid providers with foreseeable dire consequences for client’s and the criminal justice system.
You can download the consultation paper and supporting documents in one archive file from here.