City of Sydney The Council of the City of Sydney ("Council" or "City of Sydney") invites tenders for the provision of Legal Services in accordance with this request for tender. Sydney is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city with a diverse population featuring a rich history, internationally recognised tourist attractions and an exciting calendar of events. Council is the local government authority responsible for the city centre and more than 30 suburbs within our boundaries. We provide services for more than 200,000 residents and 20,000 businesses, as well as the daily influx of workers and visitors into the city. We provide essential local services such as our network of libraries, street cleansing, maintaining roads, assessing development applications, collecting waste and recycling, maintaining our parks, playgrounds and gardens, our sports venues and community centres. Councils Internal Legal & Governance Division Due to the large volume of work and intermittent need for specialised advice, Council's internal Legal and Governance Division requires support and services from external legal service providers. Council's Legal and Governance Division adopts a partnership approach with internal business units and provides legal advice to all areas across the organisation. The objective of the Legal and Governance Division is to collaborate with business units to manage risk, ensure good governance and provide high quality legal support. Through this request for tender, Council is looking to appoint external legal providers to partner with the Legal and Governance Division in achieving this objective. External legal providers will be expected to act as an extension of the Legal and Governance Division and assist the Legal and Governance Division to ensure client expectations regarding timeliness and outcomes are met. Tenderers should take this approach into consideration when preparing their tender submission. The Opportunity Council intends to enter into a Standing Offer Deed with a number of legal providers in each area of law specified in this request for tender, which will enable Council to engage legal providers for specific legal services as requested and at the discretion of Council. The terms and conditions of each individual appointment of a legal provider will include certain terms of the Standing Offer Deed and the legal providers terms, which must be submitted with the response to this tender. The legal providers terms will be attached to the Standing Offer Deed and will apply to every engagement during the term of the Standing Offer Deed. Further information regarding the areas of law and the anticipated volume of work in each area of law is contained in Part B of this Request for tender. Tenderers may tender for the complete range of services or select areas of law. The number of tenderers to enter into Standing Offer Deeds is to be determined by Council at its discretion. Council intends to appoint a number of legal services providers of a variety of law firm sizes and specialisations in each area of law. The term for appointment under the Standing Offer Deed will be for an initial three-year term, with the option to extend a further period of three years and a final further period of two years, at Council's election. Tenderers will be awarded as providers for one or multiple areas of law. Tenderers must submit tenders in the manner required by the RFT. Legal Services Required (Areas of Law) The City of Sydney is seeking to establish a panel of providers for legal services in the following areas of law: Area 1 - Major Transactions Area 2 - Commercial Law Area 3A - Property Law (Transactions & Disputes) Area 3B - Property Law (Stream Leasing) Area 4 - Planning and Environment Lawlink Area 5 - Employment Relations, Work Health and Safety Law Area 6 - Public Liability and Insurance Litigation Area 7 - Government, Regulatory, Administrative and General Litigation Tenderers may tender for the complete range of services or select areas of law. The above listed areas of law are not intended to be exhaustive but instead provide a summary of the types of legal services required. Further information regarding the services required under each area of law can be found in Part B – Specifications and Performance Review. The City is committed to creating opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owned businesses. The City encourages First Nations People owned and operated businesses, Local SME, Start-ups as well as social enterprises (including Cooperatives) to work with us and respond to this opportunity. NOTE: any contract departures need to be submitted to the Procurement Representative as soon as possible but at least 10 business days before the RFT closing date and time.