When a public contract is awarded to somebody else, the window to do anything about it is counted in working days, not weeks. This is an independent review of how your bid was assessed, and a straight answer on whether there is anything worth pursuing.
The standstill period. Weekends don't count, which is why it runs out sooner than people expect. Light touch contracts, which include most social care, may have no standstill at all — the first thing to check is the award notice.
Three different regimes govern public sector awards, and they give you three very different amounts of time. One of them may give you none at all. Before anything else, work out which one you are in.
Eight working days from the start of standstill to make written representations to the commissioner. They must reconsider and respond, then observe a further five working days. If you're still not satisfied you can escalate to the Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel, and standstill stays open while the Panel considers it.
Commissioners must also keep records of how the decision was made and hand specified documents over during standstill if you ask. That is real evidence, obtainable inside the window.
None of this is litigation. No court, no issue fee, no exposure to the other side's costs, and I can take it the whole way for you.
Representations are only available where the award used Direct Award C, the most suitable provider process, or the competitive process. Under Direct Award A or B there is no representations route and no Panel escalation. I'll tell you which you're in on the first call, and I won't charge you for a review that can't go anywhere.
Most social care sits in the light touch regime, and light touch contracts are exempt from the mandatory standstill period. The authority may run a voluntary one, and if it does it has to say so in the contract award notice. It doesn't have to.
So the first thing to read is the award notice. If a voluntary standstill is stated, you have it and the contract can't be signed until it ends. If nothing is stated, there is no window and the contract may already be signed.
Where that's happened, what's left is a damages claim inside thirty days of when you knew there was a problem, and damages here usually means your wasted bid costs. Often that's worth less than the cost of chasing it. I'd rather tell you that on a free call than after an invoice.
Eight working days from publication of the contract award notice. If proceedings are issued and the authority notified inside that window, the contract cannot be signed.
Miss it and the authority can sign, leaving damages as the only remedy. There is also a separate thirty-day limit running from the date you knew of the problem, which for some grounds can start before the award is even announced.
Here I do the analysis and tell you whether there is a case. If there is, a solicitor issues it.
Every review ends in one of these. They cost the same, because you are paying for an answer rather than for a particular answer.
There are grounds that can be evidenced, and correcting them would realistically have changed the outcome for you. You get the grounds, the evidence for each, and what to do next.
Something is arguable but depends on information you don't yet hold. You get the options for holding the door open without committing to the full cost.
You were beaten, not wronged. You get a clear explanation of why, and a recommendation not to spend any more money on it. This is the most common answer and I will give it to you plainly.
Fixed fees, agreed before I start. No hourly billing and no success fee, because a success fee would give me a reason to find grounds that aren't there.
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| First conversationTwenty minutes. Where you are, what the deadline is, and whether this is worth taking further. | Free |
| PSR representationsFull review of the decision, plus drafting the written representations for you to submit. Available where the award used Direct Award C, the most suitable provider process or the competitive process. Escalation to the Panel quoted separately. | £2,950 |
| Procurement Act reviewFull review of how your bid was assessed, graded grounds, and a recommendation. Delivered within three working days of receiving your documents. | £1,950 |
| Pre-submission reviewBefore you send it. I score your draft against the published evaluation criteria and tell you where you're losing marks. | £950 |
All fees plus VAT. Invoiced by Procurement, Commissioning and Commercial Services Ltd, the company behind Standstill.
Alex Hackett, MBA (SPM), MCIPS
Twenty-four years in procurement, most of it inside contracting authorities. I have been Head of Procurement, Category Manager and Transformation Lead across local government, the NHS, a combined authority and the private sector.
I have written the evaluation guidance that officers are trained on. I have designed the scoring, built the criteria, run the moderation and signed off the award. When I read an assessment summary, I am reading a document I have written hundreds of times, and I know what it looks like when it has been written to justify a decision rather than to record one.
I once ran an integrated substance misuse procurement for a county council, worth five years of service. First and second place were separated by 0.24 per cent. Second place was the incumbent, and they lost the contract.
It was not challenged. Not because nobody wanted to, but because there was nothing to challenge.
That is the standard I hold other people's procurements to. A narrow margin is not a ground. Disappointment is not a ground. Knowing the difference is the entire job.
I am not a solicitor and I don't hold myself out as one. Conducting litigation is a reserved legal activity, so under the Procurement Act, if you decide to issue proceedings, that goes to a solicitor. I will give them an analysis they can work straight from, and I can point you to firms that do this properly.
Under the Provider Selection Regime it is different. Representations to a commissioner, and escalation to the Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel, are not litigation. I can run that end to end.
I also won't take the work if I have a conflict. I run interim procurement engagements through Procurement, Commissioning and Commercial Services Ltd, and I check every enquiry against current and recent clients before accepting it. If there's a conflict I'll tell you on the first call and suggest someone else.
Tell me the date the award was published and I'll tell you what you're working with. No charge for that conversation and no obligation after it.
Email me the date