Pinsent Masons has beaten five other hopefuls to win the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) US$949,965 legal services contract to advise on a project on the PPP legal frameworks of various Middle Eastern nations.
The contract involves a study of the PPP legalisation and regulations in Middle East nations that fall under the umbrella of the EIB’s trust fund, Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership, and involves principally Algeria, Egypt, Gaza/West Bank, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia. The firm will provide advice on ways to strengthen the existing PPP frameworks in the countries.
While Pinsents has only one base in the Middle East (in Dubai) it wasn’t an eliminating factor in the contract criteria for the Luxembourg-based EIB. The tender was open “to international organisations; there are no nationality restrictions.”
Various other criteria considered in awarding the contract included the firm’s economic and financial capacity, and experience of PPP transactions in the last three years. To be eligible, law firms had to have an annual turnover higher than the contract budget, but the overall award criterion was best value for money.
Pinsent Masons has previously advised EIB, alongside German firm Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft in 2007, on the project financing for the A4 Motorway PPP road project in Germany.
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