5 The Department had to act: it could not practicably occupy one estate owned and managed by the private sector and another managed by itself to different standards. It did not have the expertise to manage an estate especially when its accommodation needs were undergoing significant change, requiring a significant number of disposals and acquisitions.
6 The Department concluded that the expansion of the PRIME contract through a non-competitive negotiation with the incumbent supplier, Land Securities Trillium, was legally permissible and the way to achieve best value for money:
■ it considered a wide range of options and rightly concluded that a single contractor offered cost advantages - and that expanding the contract with Land Securities Trillium as incumbents would bring economies of scale, synergies and efficiencies through the integration of the estates, which no other suppliers could do;
■ it used the lure of the prize of an expanded contract as a lever to gain improvements to the original PRIME contract; and
■ Land Securities Trillium was delivering on the PRIME contract and had the capacity to take on the extra estate.