GDC £7m Payday for Legal Firms
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- Published: Monday, 11 March 2024 09:24
- Written by Peter Ingle
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As the GDC set about restricting live Fitness to Practise (FTP) hearings in the name of economy, there is another part of their budget that appears safe from cost cutting. The GDC are presently seeking tenders for a contract valued at £7 million to provide them with a particular strand of legal services.
The GDC are presently seeking tenders for a contract for legal services. valued at £7 million. Ironically these services are in relation to FTP. The contract will begin this summer and runs for five years and one month. On an annual basis, the GDCs spending on this legal input will account for nearly 2,220 dentist’s registration fees, or those of a little over 12,000 DCPs.
The contract has been advertised on the Government Contracts Finder website. It is described as “Provision of legal service in relation to fitness to practice”. The window to make applications, opening on March 1st, and ending on March 18th, is very narrow.
It is worth remembering that the GDC has its own extensive legal and FTP teams, although they appear to be in some turmoil. They are represented, at the Council’s high level Executive Team. Clare Paget is a very new arrival, being appointed as the GDC’s Interim Executive Director, Legal and Governance in March 2024. Meanwhile Theresa Thorp who joined the GDC in September 2023 as Executive Director, Regulation, was at the time billed as leading on FTP. So far she has maintained a very low profile.
As well as these teams, and the block contract, we also know that the GDC pays separately for legal advice on individual FTP cases.
The GDC has recently refused to provide responses to requests for basic information about the costs of its FTP process, either generally, or in relation to expert witnesses. See this article on GDPUK News.
The entry on Contracts Finder links to a Prior Information Notice (PIN), with the following description: “This Prior Information Notice is to get expression of interest from legal firms that have experience in fitness to practice case handling and to have a broader view of the availability of legal professionals in the market who can render the said practice.” Under this is the heading, “view full notice” immediately followed by the words, Not applicable, Not applicable, Not applicable.
GDPUK has previously reported on the similarly brief tendering process for the University of Suffolk dental scheme. In that case there was only one applicant that meet the criteria. They were promptly awarded the contract. This might raise questions regarding the process and whether it favours particular applicants, for example, those with a close or existing relationship with the purchasing organisation.
Registrants can only wonder what the GDC’s expectations are for their new legal advisers. They will hope that they will be considered a success if justice is done and seen to be done. Experience suggests that counting registrant scalps may be the GDC’s preferred metric.
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