DLA Piper and Field Fisher Waterhouse have advised the Cabinet Office on the creation of Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) a joint venture between HM Government and Steria, a leading provider of IT enabled business services, a contract potentially worth in excess of £1bn over 10 years.
SSCL will serve approximately 150,000 customers initially across 13 organisations to provide shared procurement, finance and HR services with potential for the service to be expanded to other public and private sector bodies in future.
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency, and UK Shared Business Services Ltd and nine other public sector customers joined on 1 November transferring approximately 1200 staff into SSCL.
Legal support on this major project was delivered by a combined team drawn from Cabinet Office in-house lawyers, the Treasury Solicitor’s Department (TSol), Field Fisher Waterhouse and DLA Piper. The Cabinet Office’s in-house advisers were responsible for the overall project management, and for procurement and public law advice. TSol provided and managed the provision of employment and pensions law advice.
Field Fisher Waterhouse advised upon the framework agreement and call off services agreements that were awarded to SSCL, while DLA Piper advised on the equity investment, the vesting of the existing government shared service centres into SSCL, transitional services and competition law.
The team at DLA Piper was led by Richard Bonnar (partner) and Sarah Bell (partner), with core assistance from Andrew Dyson (partner), Amanda Pilkington (senior associate), Gemma Cowap (senior associate), Maria Fitzpatrick (associate), and Jennifer Deakin (associate). Mark Chidley (partner), worked on finance aspects of the deal, while Guy Lamb and Kate Payne (both partners) advised on HR and pensions aspects respectively. Zac Clayton (associate) assisted with Real Estate matters.
Richard Bonnar said: "This deal presented a challenge for the team due to its short timescale for completion, as well as some aspects of the transaction requiring input from a number of clients. The team worked together to produce both an excellent outcome for the taxpayer, and a stellar project delivery from DLA Piper and the combined legal team.
Shared services has been a 'holy grail' for central Government for over ten years. This project has now achieved a radical shift in back office service delivery in a period of 9 months."
Francis Maude, minister for the Cabinet Office, added: “A key part of the Civil Service Reform plan is making government more unified, and enabling civil servants to focus on delivering exceptional public services. It makes sense for government departments, agencies and public bodies to share services and pool expertise.”
A statement issued by Steria said: "Shared Services Connected Ltd will be a UK tax-paying business that will contribute to growth and job creation in this country. SSCL will invest in technologies and skills to create UK centres of excellence which will not only improve levels of service, but will stimulate innovation, create high-value jobs and develop skills in the UK.”
The creation of SSCL is part of the wider civil service reform agenda aimed at saving money by centralising some key functions. The Government’s strategy to transform back office operations and consolidate transactional functions across government could help deliver between £400 million and £600 million a year in savings for the taxpayer.
SSCL will be majority owned by the private sector (75%) with a minority stake for HMGovernment (25%). A total of 1,200 staff in government departments transferred to SSCL on November 1.
