South West One Legal Advice

Southwest One is a joint venture between Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane Borough Council, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and IBM. The vision of Southwest One is to enable the social transformation of Taunton, Somerset and the South West to deliver better value for money for council taxpayers and improve access to services for local residents.

SW RIEP supported the creation of South West One by funding the original Improving Services in Somerset (ISIS) programme, ensuring that the framework would be open and accessible to other authorities in the South West, and by contributing towards the costs of the final legal advice.

The legal advice attached below answers the following questions:

• Can other public sector bodies in the South West use South West One without the need for a further tendering exercise?
• Who in addition to the original OJEU signatories may procure services from South West One?
• How does the framework agreement permit variations in the content and pricing of 'call off' contracts?
• Do authorities have sufficient vires to call off the services under the agreement or become shareholders/provide staff and assets to the Joint Venture Company?