Government Changes Rules For Legal Services

If lawyers want to play the law game with government, the rules are about to change

LawFuel.co.nz - NZ Legal News & Jobs Wire –

The Government is presently altering the way in which government legal services are being supplied with a radical rewrite of government tendering processes.

NBR's 'Briefcase' columnist John Bowie reported this week that the Ministry of Economic Development is calling for feedback from 200 or so government agencies and departments before developing its new "All of Government" contracts under the Government's procurement reform programme.

The programme wants to streamline the way in which government receives outsourced services, including legal services, from hundreds of suppliers. The intention, so far as the delivery of legal services is concerned, is not just to obtain better value for money but also to receive other added-value benefits to government.

Currently it is believed there are around 200 law firms supplying legal services to government. The Government wants to slim down that number by supplying a "panel" which would number far less and which would also ensure legal services are supplied in the manner sought. This would include, according to John Bowie's column, a move away from the hourly charges normally made as the basis for legal service supply.

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