Legislation Services Panel

The Legislation Services Panel (the panel) is a list of suppliers who have been pre-approved by the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) to provide legislation drafting services for secondary legislation not drafted by PCO, legislative design services, and related support services direct to participating agencies. The panel also provides surge support to PCO.

The panel does not affect or replace the need for agencies to seek drafting services from PCO as they usually would.

Suppliers have agreed to the terms and conditions for supply. Participating agencies have agreed to a memorandum of understanding.

The panel operates under an open syndicated contract. It sits outside of the AoG External Legal Services Panel and is instead a collaborative panel of contactors led by PCO.

The panel’s key objective is to support agencies with drafting and developing secondary legislation and related support services. It will help build capability of legislation services and increase access for participating agencies to legal, policy and legislative design work across government.

This then supports PCO’s wider office objective under the Legislation Act 2019 of promoting high-quality legislation that is easy to find, use, and understand and, to that end, to exercise stewardship of New Zealand's legislation as a whole.

We welcome contacts from both potential suppliers and agencies interested in joining the panel.

Key details

What services are covered

This contract covers following services:

Service 1A: Legislative drafting and review of services for PCO

This service provides some surge capacity for PCO. It includes drafting or reviewing draft legislation in accordance with PCO’s standards for high-quality legislation, assisting in developing standard provisions, and working for PCO’s Pacific desk (providing legislative assistance to Pacific nations).

Service 1B: Legislative drafting and review services for participating agencies

This service provides support for participating agencies that draft secondary legislation. It includes drafting or reviewing draft legislation in accordance with PCO’s standards for high-quality legislation and/or requirements specified by the participating agency.

Service 2A: Legislation design and delivery advice and support

This service includes advice on the development of legislation (including design and process), the preparation or review of drafting instructions, advice and comment on draft legislation, and services relating to developing, making, and publishing legislation.

Service 2B: Legislative stewardship

This service includes the promotion of high-quality legislation that is easy to find, use, and understand. Examples include delivering training for and assistance to drafters, projects to improve accessibility of legislation on agency websites, and projects relating to delivery of dual language legislation.

What is not covered

Legal work unrelated to legislation services is outside the scope of this panel. This includes litigation, mediation, and arbitration work. Any service that does not align under 1A, 1B, 2A or 2B above is out of scope.

Participating agencies

Any agency that drafts legislation, administers primary or secondary legislation, or instructs PCO is eligible to participate.

To join the panel as a participating agency, you should:

1. Ensure that you are eligible to participate

2. Obtain a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by emailing the PCO contact listed above

3. Review the MOU and check that you can meet your obligations under it

4. Appoint a suitably experienced and qualified representative to manage the relationship with suppliers

5. Sign a Letter of Accession (LoA) agreeing to the terms of the MOU and return it to PCO.

To procure services, you issue a Legislation and Related Services Order (Word 57KB)  in accordance with the terms of the Services Agreement between PCO and that panel supplier.

Suppliers

Suppliers to the panel have significant experience in drafting legislation and/or related services. If you are interested in applying to become a Supplier, please email the PCO contact listed above or apply via the standing invitation on GETS here: GETS | Parliamentary Counsel Office - Legislation Services Panel.

Dates and renewal details