Keating Chambers is a go-to set for procurement which offers “strength and depth of expertise” alongside “a great level of service”. Advocates at Keating Chambers are at the coal face of procurement law, acting on most of the key cases in this area and at the forefront of its development over the last decade or so. Our members are regularly instructed by government, other public bodies, utilities and industry clients in highly complex procurement litigation in a wide range of sectors. They are strategic advisers, often involved at all stages of the tender process from design to debrief. Described as “commercial, un-stuffy, client-friendly, committed, personable”, barristers at Keating Chambers see things from the client’s perspective and provide authoritative advice and practical solutions.
Members also have expertise and experience in the related fields of competition law and subsidy control, both, like procurement, having their origins in EU law. They regularly provide competition advice to industry and government clients and, with long term experience in the area of EU state aid law, have established a strong practice advising on the new Subsidy Control Act 2022.
Sectors
Rail
- Acting for both parties in Siemens Mobility Limited v High Speed Two (HS2) Limited, the high-profile challenge brought to the outcome of the HS2 rolling stock procurement involving multiple areas of procurement law and parallel judicial review claims. A leading judgment of 2023.
- A huge victory for our team who represented the Secretary of State in the “Rail Franchise Litigation”, one of the most complex commercial judicial review cases.
- Alstom Transport UK Ltd v Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd – relating to the procurement of the first major digital signalling project in the UK on the East Coast Main Line.
Infrastructure
- Successfully defending HS2 in Bechtel Limited v High Speed Two (HS2) Limited [2021] EWHC 458 TCC in a challenge brought to the procurement for construction of Old Oak Common station.
- Case concerning the procurement of a £1 billion contract for the construction of a proposed new road tunnel under the Thames near the O2 Arena.
- Acting for the Defendant, successfully applied to lift the automatic suspension on a procurement for facilities management at the Courts.
Healthcare
- Acting for the incumbent provider of an urgent care centre on an application to lift the automatic suspension in One Medicare t/a One Primary Care LLP -v- NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board.
- Acting successfully for NHS England in Inhealth Intelligence Limited v NHS England in a claim relating to the exclusion of a bidder due to a failure to submit a tender response by the deadline.
- Acting for the NHS defendants in Consultant Connect Limited v NHS Bath and Others, a case relating to the award of a contract under a framework for communication services.
- Acting on both sides in a high-profile challenge concerning the urgent procurement of automated diagnostic software for the purpose of mass testing of COVID-19.
- Acting for the claimant in Ryhurst v Whittington NHS following the decision to abandon the procurement of a Strategy Estates Partnership joint venture (SEP).
- Acting for NHS England in Accessible Orthodontics v NHS England, a claim based on alleged scoring errors in a procurement for NHS dental services.
- Acting on behalf of the incumbent provider of the Nottingham Treatment Centre in Circle Nottingham Ltd v NHS Rushcliffe Clinical Commissioning Group and Nottingham University NHS Trust –resisting the lift of an automatic suspension and on applications for expert evidence.
Urban Regeneration & Development Agreements
- Acting for the claimant and appellant in the Court of Appeal in Faraday Development Ltd v West Berkshire Council, the leading case on development agreements and procurement law.
- Acting for the interested party in Wylde v Waverley Borough Council, a high-profile challenge to the variation of a development agreement.
Waste
- Acting successfully for NHS England in SRCL Ltd v NHS Commissioning Board [2018] EWHC 1985 (TCC), a claim relating to the disposal of clinical waste on grounds and allegations of a breach of the rules governing abnormally low tenders.
- Acting successfully for the defendants in Community R4C Ltd v Gloucestershire County Council, a challenge to the amendment of a substantial contract for the construction and operation of an energy from waste plant.
Other
- Acting for the defendants in Atos Services UK Ltd v (1) Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy & (2) The Met Office, a procurement challenge concerning the prestigious contract for a state of the art weather and climate change supercomputer.
- Acting on behalf of the Gambling Commission in Camelot and IGC v Gambling Commission, a series of challenges by Camelot (the incumbent and second placed bidder) and its sub-contractor, IGT, to its award of the hugely high-profile licence to run the National Lottery.
- Acting for Live Nation Music Ltd, the unsuccessful bidder for the contract to run Hyde Park Summertime music festival tendered by Royal Parks.
- Acting for MSI in MSI-Defence Systems Ltd v Secretary of State for Defence, a challenge to the defendant’s decision to rewind a tender for naval gun systems and reinvite bids on the basis of revised scoring guidance.
Competition
As a former competition partner in a leading law firm, Simon Taylor has many years of experience of EU and UK competition investigations and litigation in Brussels and London and advises UK companies and public bodies in the area of anti-competitive agreements, subsidy control (formerly state aid), merger control and abuse of dominance. Since working with the European Commission in the 1990’s, Rhodri Williams KC has also long specialised in EU law and public markets, including competition and state aid law. Simon and Rhodri advise regularly on the application of the Subsidy Control Act 2022.
Industry Recognition
Keating Chambers has a “gifted team of talented silks and juniors” which is rapidly growing at the senior end from lateral recruitments and organically with junior members introduced to procurement cases at an early stage of their careers. Seven individual members are recommended as leaders in the field in the legal directories, with Keating Chambers achieving a top tier ranking for procurement law in The Legal 500.
In recent years, two procurement cases featuring members of Keating Chambers have made The Lawyer’s “Top 20 Cases of the Year” lists, a testament to the quality and high-profile nature of the work we do in the procurement sector. Sarah Hannaford KC and Fionnuala McCredie KC were also each recognised in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 lists for their work in the sector (in 2022 and 2021 respectively).
Thought Leadership
Keating Chambers’ barristers are renowned thought leaders and often contribute to the development of technical knowledge through publishing authoritative texts, delivering webinars and lectures, and taking part in high-profile legal conferences worldwide. In 2021 Keating Chambers’ procurement barristers launched a mini-series of procurement podcasts focussing on the Transforming Public Procurement Green Paper and have since provided regular seminars in the build up to the coming into force of the Procurement Act 2023.
They are also actively involved with professional organisations including the Procurement Law Association and are instrumental in the development of procurement law. For example:
- Sarah Hannaford KC was a member of the Procurement Transformation Advisory Panel which was established by the Cabinet Office to contribute to proposals for reform to public procurement after Brexit.
- Rhodri Williams KC is a long-standing representative of the Bar Council’s Legislative Reform Committee and European Law Committee and he has been appointed to the Bar Council’s Retained EU Law Working Group.
Our members regularly contribute to leading legal publications and industry conferences for example:
- Rhodri Williams KC is a member of the Editorial Board of the Sweet & Maxwell’s Public Procurement Law Review.
- Simon Taylor is co-author with the Practical Law public sector team of two leading practice notes on procurement and a specialist procurement editor of the Construction Law Reports.
- Sarah Hannaford KC and Fionnuala McCredie KC are regular speakers at the leading November Whitepaper conference on procurement.
