Gowling WLG's public sector team has been appointed to the legal panel of the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) in a framework that will be worth £400m.
A full service, two-year appointment, with the option to extend, Gowling WLG has been selected as one of just 12 Tier 1 firms on the panel. The CCS represents central government bodies and offers to deliver value when they require legal services. This significant appointment will see the international law firm provide specialist legal services to the CCS's central government bodies.
The Tier 1 firms are all required to cover 23 mandatory specialisms, including public law, contracts and competition law, highlighting Gowling WLG's specialist cross-sector and cross-service approach. Gowling WLG's in-depth expertise and capacity to deliver comprehensive specialist legal services to central government bodies on a range of projects has ensured that it will be one of the 12 Tier 1 firms.
The new framework replaces the existing panel, which expired at the end of January 2017. Under the new framework, the CCS has established a panel of full service commercial law firms to provide central government bodies with support for significant projects, disputes and initiatives, and general advice within specialist sectors.
In total, the CCS has appointed 18 firms. Central government bodies will engage with the Tier 1 firms in the first instance and will only be permitted to approach the six Tier 2 firms if there are no capable Tier 1 suppliers available.
Sarah Sasse, partner at Gowling WLG, said: "We are proud to have been appointed as one of the Tier 1 firms the CCS's legal panel. We have worked extremely hard to show our credentials and it will be a privilege to support government bodies with their legal issues."