Competitive bids projected to penetrate only slightly during coming five years

If projections come true, five years from now law departments’ efforts to have law firms compete for their work are foreseen will be only somewhat more common. Surveyed on Legal OnRamp, (See my post of Sept. 21, 2008: social networks with 7 references.).
84 lawyers responded who work at companies that have revenues of at least one billion dollars. The American Lawyer’s Aric Press put the survey in context.

One third of the respondents look ahead to 2013 and foresee that 10 percent or more than their spending today under competitive-bid arrangements will be awarded after a competitive process. A quarter of the respondents foresee spending in the range of 5 to 10 percent more than now while 7 percent think the increase will only be 1 to 5 percent. Over the five year period, therefore, the increase in fees paid law firms who have been selected after a competitive bid is foreseen to be modest. And these are big law departments prognosticating.

Competitive bidding comes off as a damp squib. If you thought a sea change in the market is coming, realize that 35 percent of the respondents expect no change at all or a decrease in the percentage of outside counsel spending governed by competitive bidding (See my post of Aug. 15, 2008: competitive bids with 35 references.).