The Legal Services Commission has today delayed the national rollout of best value tendering (BVT) for criminal work by three years, pending a ‘full’ evaluation of the pilot.

The move will be seen as a considerable climbdown by the LSC.

Responding to its consultation, the LSC said piloting of the scheme, which will see firms bid against each other to get contracts for police and magistrates’ court work, will go ahead in Greater Manchester and Avon and Somerset in July 2010.

In response to the concerns expressed by the profession about the speed of the proposed rollout and the lack of any impact assessment, the LSC said there will now be a full evaluation over 12-18 months on the impact of suppliers in the two pilot areas.

If it is shown to be success, BVT will then be introduced across the country from 2013 at the earliest.

The LSC has also modified some of the proposals in light of concerns raised during the consultation process. In particular, it will implement a more flexible, localised approach to the maximum market share firms can bid for, allowing them to bid for higher volumes of work.

Firms will be able to do ‘own client’ work for cases that fall outside the area in which they hold a contract for up to 10% of their allotted contract volume, and the LSC has decided BVT contract holders should have exclusive rights to work in magistrates’ courts, to further protect their access to cases.

In a written ministerial statement Lord Bach, the legal aid minister, said: ‘The LSC has listened carefully to the concerns raised by those responding to the consultation and has been persuaded that there is a strong case for delaying the wider implementation of BVT until at least 2013 to enable a full evaluation of the impact in the two pilot areas.

‘BVT offers the potential to secure the long-term sustainability of criminal defence work by enabling legal aid providers to offer their services at a sustainable price that reflects the costs of provision in their local area,’ he said.

Carolyn Regan, LSC chief executive, said: ‘Our aim is to keep within our budget and make it sustainable, so while we recognise that solicitors say they do not want best value tendering, we believe it is the right way forward to pilot these proposals and evaluate their impact.

‘We have made a number of other changes in response to suggestions and addressing providers’ key concerns. We will work with them to make it a success,’ she said.

Law Society president Paul Marsh said: ‘The Law Society lobbied hard for a proper pilot and full evaluation of the proposals – so we are pleased that the LSC has promised that decisions on any rollout will not be taken until full pilots have been evaluated - not before 2013.

‘This decision is a testament to the strength of the arguments put forward in the responses of the Law Society and all the other organisations who responded to the consultation.

‘We are pleased that the LSC has adopted many of the suggestions in relation to the pilot model that were made in the economic report by LECG which was commissioned by the Law Society.’

Marsh added that he welcomed the LSC’s acknowledgement of the need for solicitors to be able to follow their clients out of area, although he said it ‘remains to be seen whether the 10% tolerance proposed will be sufficient’.

He warned that there may be a ‘destructive impact on access to justice’ in the pilot areas. He added: ‘It is a shame that the scheme has not been dropped altogether… We are disappointed to see that zero bids could still potentially be allowed, and we do not believe that the LSC has sufficient understanding to adequately safeguard against unsustainable bids during the bidding process.’

Marsh said the Law Society was also concerned by the ‘lack of any guarantee that prices for other, related criminal work will remain unchanged throughout the life of this contract’. He said the Society continued to have concerns about whether this method of tendering for legal services would be successful and about the fairness of the proposed scheme towards those firms in the pilot.