Michael Papadakis

Director, MELETH LTD

Senior public procurement lawyer with significant procurement management and drafting/negotiating certain public contracts experience.

I provide a comprehensive “cradle to grave” procurement service. I have significant private practice and in-house experience.

I have been involved with and advising on all aspects of the procurement process from the planning, the procurement strategy stage, putting together the business case of the procurement (options/routes to market/procurement law and commercial risk), market testing, organising industry days, drafting/reviewing all procurement documents (information memorandum, PQQ/SQ, ITT, ITN, ISOP/ITD, etc.), providing clarifications to and negotiating with tenderers. I have been involved in the evaluation of final bids and have been regularly drafting notification/ “Stand-still” letters, providing debriefings to unsuccessful tenderers and candidates and responding to tenderers’ complaints and grievances to the Contracting Authority during the “stand-still” period. I have been supporting the contract lawyers to provide standard contract terms and conditions for the public procurement processes. I have disputes experience, including understanding the issues, providing guidance on options and solutions. As part of my job, I regularly identify legal risks and manage them on the basis of appropriate cost-benefit analysis.

I have advised on procurements Government Departments, Local Authorities, Police forces, Universities, NHS Trusts, Regional development agencies and

UK Regulators, as you can see in my CV.

I have developed my public procurement knowledge and experience advising private clients but also working in-house.

I am therefore familiar with the considerations pertaining on both the purchasing and the bidding side in a procurement process.

Experience in advising under both the Utilities procurement rules under the Public Sector rules and was supporting teams of procurement managers.

I have been engaging with stakeholders and senior management and have been managing a small team of procurement managers for a short period whilst at LLDC.

I always keep on top of legal development, industry trends and best practices; I produce regularly legal updates make procurement law contributions to the internal legal know-how, provide internal and client training and speak to public procurement seminars.

My aim has been always to ensure that the project/requirements were properly scoped, the procurement options were properly identified and analysed and that the processes were properly and lawfully structured and conducted and Value for Money was one of the key achievements of each process.

I have experience liaising with the European Commission and with the Cabinet Office/CCS on procurement matters and have been following closely the introduction of the 2014 EU Directives and I am very familiar with all three Public (2015), Utilities (2016) and Concessions (2016) Contracts Regulations.

Contributed to

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Damages as a remedy in public procurement claims

Practice notes

This Practice Note examines damages as a remedy for breach of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015). A formal legal challenge may be brought by an economic operator (a candidate or a tenderer) against a contracting authority for breach of the rules in a public procurement process governed by PCR 2015. Damages may be awarded at the discretion of the court to a successful claimant, or agreed to by way of settlement in tandem with, or instead of, other remedies available to the claimant.

Public Law

Holding letter to complainant on receipt of complaint against the procurement process

Precedents

This Precedent is a holding letter to be sent by a contracting authority to a tenderer who has raised concerns about the conduct of the public procurement, pending investigation of the issues raised. It can be adapted to be used for complaints raised during the conduct of the tender process or complaints raised during the standstill period prescribed by regulation 87 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, SI 2015/102.

Local Government

Standstill letter to successful tenderer

Precedents

This Precedent is a template letter for use by a contracting authority in a procurement exercise subject to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102. It informs the tenderer of the contracting authority’s provisional decision to award them the contract. The end of the letter highlights the contracting authority’s obligation to introduce a standstill period before entering into a binding contract with the successful tenderer.

Local Government

Standstill letter to unsuccessful suppliers

Precedents

This Precedent is a template letter for use by a contracting authority in a procurement exercise subject to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102. It informs the tenderer that it has been unsuccessful in the tender for a public contract and reveals the successful tenderer, setting out the scores and details of the successful tender. The end of the letter highlights the contracting authority’s obligation to introduce a standstill period and states when this will expire.

Local Government