The work that you do

Sarah specialises in leading large, complex public sector projects, particularly those involving strategic procurement, outsourcing and IT/technology. She helps clients develop procurement frameworks, formulate negotiation strategies and devise incentivisation methodologies. Her understanding of the public sector context, as well as the latest government thinking and policy, helps her to rapidly identify and address commercial challenges and risks on projects. As an experienced public procurement practitioner Sarah appreciates the issues faced by contracting authorities in designing and running a compliant procurement process, and the need to offer pragmatic advice to help mitigate the risk of a procurement challenge.

Case highlights

Over the last 2 decades, Sarah has acted as the lead on an extensive range of public sector projects. Examples of the most significant are set out below:

• During 2021, Sarah was engaged as engaged as a Senior Commercial Lawyer in the Test & Trace Legal Team within DHSC. Whilst at Test & Trace, Sarah advised on a broad spectrum of projects/contracts including the construction/operation of the new ‘mega lab’ testing facility in Leamington Spa; the establishment of UK based LFT manufacturing facilities (‘UK Make’); logistics arrangements for the delivery, storage and collection of testing kits, including arranging transport of LFTs from China; the purchase/supply arrangements for a wide range of consumable products and on disputes relating to the termination/modification of a number of supply contracts.
• Advising MOD on its Future Service Delivery Contract project undertaken under the DSPCR. This was a significant procurement for the MOD, covering the administration of all Armed Forces' pay and pensions, and is the biggest of its type in Europe, benefitting several million people in the UK. Sarah led detailed legal and commercial negotiations with the 3 bidders as well as providing strategic procurement advice.
• Advising Office for National Statistics on its Census Transformation Programme, comprising approximately 20 parallel procurements to support the 2021 Census and the 2019 rehearsal. Sarah led the team which advised ONS on a range of procurement, contractual, GDPR/data protection and HR/employment issues.
• Advising Ofqual on its procurement of a supplier (NFER) to design/develop and operate the National Reference Tests (NRTs), including reviewing procurement documentation and contract/schedule drafting. This was a cutting-edge project with significant reputational risk for Ofqual given the significance of the NRTs in the new GCSE regime. Sarah was instrumental in designing a contract which placed appropriate controls on NFER, incentivised NFER via an appropriately calibrated PPIM to deliver to tight timescales and mitigated the reputational risks to Ofqual.
• Advising Ofwat on the procurement of a delivery partner to support its Price Review 2019. Sarah advised on the design and detail of the procurement documentation, including SQ and ITT evaluation criteria, as well as on the detailed drafting of an incentivisation mechanism designed to ensure the partner delivered a quality service throughout the price review.
• Advising Birmingham City Council (BCC) on the renegotiation of its 15 year, £1 billion ICT/business services outsourcing contract with Capita. Sarah led extensive negotiations with Capita and the drafting of a number of Deeds of Variation as BCC and Capita sought to agree a range of cost saving measures and implement an effective transition/exit strategy as BCC moved into the re-procurement phase.
• During a seven-month secondment to Cabinet Office in 2013/2014, Sarah led the drafting/development of the new Model ICT Agreement and standard terms for HM Government's purchase of goods/services. Sarah conducted cross-Government consultations with senior commercial lawyers across all the main Departments to identify a 'cross-government' approach on issues/policies such as open book; excess profits; liability for wilful default/abandonment; data security. The resulting precedents now form the basis for Government IT/technology projects over £10m.
• Advising Department of Health (DoH) and NHS acute trusts on the £5 billion Independent Sector Treatment Centre (ISTC) Programme. Sarah led teams advising acute trusts on the provision of sites and the delivery of a range of services to 5 new ISTCs, including IT, FM and clinical services. These were extremely sensitive projects, forming part of the Labour Government’s policies to modernise the NHS, and required me to give detailed advice to both the DoH and the acute trusts on vires and liability issues. In order to secure this role, Sarah scored highly in the DoH's Competency Assessment Centre for lead negotiators.
• Advising TfL/GLA on the public procurement aspects of a range of projects, including the original procurement/subsequent re-tender of the London Cycle Hire Scheme let under Competitive Dialogue; the Operator Contract for the management/operation of the Olympic Stadium; and the redevelopment of South Kensington station currently procured via Competitive Dialogue. Sarah helped develop the procurement strategy, reviewed/amended the procurement documentation, assisted with clarifications and queries arising from the evaluation process. Sarah was also involved on the aborted ‘Garden Bridge’ project, drafting an overarching agreement under which TfL sought additional security from the Garden Bridge Trust in relation to the future maintenance of the bridge.
• Advising Amey PLC on the £2.2 billion Birmingham Highways PFI (at the time the largest ever local government PFI). Sarah led on the main sub-contract/flow-down arrangements and was instrumental in developing a collaborative working relationship with Amey's in-house team, Dentons (the funders' lawyers) and the Birmingham City Council in-house team to ensure that the project completed within an extremely challenging timetable (signing on Election Day in May 2010 after an intense negotiation phase).
• Advising London Borough of Croydon on a range of IT and outsourcing/services contracts and procurement issues including: a 10 year IT PFI contract with Capgemini worth over £100 million; the subsequent relet of IT services to Capita; the outsourcing of the Council’s care home provision and highways maintenance services; the establishment of a local authority trading company; the academisation of the Council’s primary and secondary schools.