Internet opens door for small firms to compete for tenders

Institutional and state-sponsored tenders for legal services are giving more opportunities to smaller firms because of the Internet, Anthony Armitage, the chief executive of FirstLAW, has claimed.The Internet-only law firm and referral service has just completed a tender for the General Medical Council to carry out proceedings against doctors, won by East Anglian firm Mills & Reeve.Mr Armitage said this was an increasing part of FirstLAW's work; the firm has completed one tender for a trade union and a local authority, and is working on three more for local authorities and a university.In the GMC tender, the firms submitted all the information on-line.Mr Armitage said: 'This ensured uniformity of presentation and allowed the GMC to compare submissions easily and fairly.'Mr Armitage said FirstLAW has long suspected that firms with larger marketing budgets had a competitive advantage in tenders.

'We're now seeing firms that would not formerly have had a chance getting much more of an opportunity.'Jeremy Fleming