Provision of Legislative Drafting Services

The Assembly Commission has an on-going requirement for the provision of legislative drafting services. Legislative drafting services are integral to the role of the Assembly Commission which allows it to fulfil its legislative obligations. Without such drafting services there could be risk of not delivering the legislative timetable. Further, significant additional resources would be required to complete the process in-house. The services of legislative drafters are required for the purposes of drafting Members’, Committee and Assembly Commission led legislation, and occasionally amendments to legislation, standing orders, determinations and any other requirement of the Assembly for external drafting. The primary purpose of the contract is to provide drafting expertise to Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). Providing MLAs with access to legislative drafters with experience and expertise supports the objective of producing well-developed legislation. The overall aim of this procurement is to establish a framework arrangement whereby the Bill Office can avail of a panel of successful service providers with the ability to provide legislative drafting services to the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission). The services will be used to draft and amend Bills which progress through the legislative process to become Acts. Having a fit for purpose legislative drafting service available to the Assembly Commission is considered business critical. The framework agreement will be for a maximum duration of 4 years. The estimated value is £450,000 over this period.