Penny Rinta-Suksi

Penny is a commercial lawyer. She leads Blake Morgan’s Local Government England team with over 20 years’ experience in advising private sector clients, funders, public sector and third sector on major projects and commercial contracts.

Main areas of practice

Penny’s experience ranges from structuring and implementing complex major procurement projects to commercial contracts, sub-contracts, warranties, guarantee and performance arrangements. Penny has a specialty in helping clients to achieve effective corporate and contractual ‘partnering’, finding the right solution to achieve their commercial objective. Penny works with her team to implement the solution, dealing with all commercial issues including finance, security, IP and IT, construction, procurement, employment, pensions and property. Penny has an overview of the entire transaction at any one time and coordinates the team to input efficiently, at the right times and within the available budget.

She has strong experience in the leisure, culture and housing sectors and sound working knowledge of education, health, financial, manufacturing, telecoms, defence, waste, utilities and energy markets. Penny leads on combined housing, leisure, utilities, energy and civic infrastructure projects, working on innovative regeneration models to include joint venture vehicles and private sector partnering and contracting.

Significant experience

Leisure and Culture

• Supporting a number of local authorities on provision of relief and contract variations in light of COVID-19.
• Critical friend to a District Council prior to award of contract to its preferred bidder.
• Advising a City Council on competitive dialogue procurement for a leisure operator on a new Passivhaus leisure centre – first in the country.
• Advising a Borough Council on its leisure design build operate and maintain (DBOM) project being procured using Competitive Dialogue.
• Supported a London Borough Council on a contract variation to lock in £1m service savings. Reappointed to secure build of new leisure centre and vary the existing operational contract for the incumbent operator to run such centre.

Joint Venturing

• Led the work for Hampshire County Council on its joint venture with Kent County Council for a new recruitment agency to support the recruitment of temporary agency staff across the authority.
• Led the work for Surrey County Council on a very similar joint venture arrangement with Kent County Council, also for a new recruitment agency to support the recruitment of temporary agency staff across the authority.
• Led the work for Dover City Council on its options appraisal and the implementation of its local authority company for housing, with a strong focus on good governance.
• Lead advisor to a University on its new build halls projects with private company using institutional investment.
• Advisor to a telecoms consortium on it bid to jointly supply services and equipment in the UK.
• Lead advisor to a University on sports campus joint venture with local authority.

Housing and Regeneration

• Private sector housing trust – lead advisor on a £billion housing zone project, advising on the negotiating and drafting of the grant agreement, funding agreement and council infrastructure agreement (and related heads of terms).
• Major housing company – supporting on a defence and counterclaim of a housing PFI contract running through a Special Purpose Vehicle contracting with a major London Borough.

Technology IP/IT

• Advised a global corporate group on the migration of its IT systems to a cloud-computing provider based outside of the EEA.
• Advised a global corporate group on the cross-border procurement of website design and software development services.
• Advised a University on the complex outsourcing of its obligations owed to the MOD and Capita for an Application and Training Modules, to a down-stream IT company.
• Complex framework agreement for a small cloud solutions IT company on a contractual framework which referenced the ‘build up’ of a service solution with additional services being called off as that service solution was formulated.
• Trademark licence review and re-draft, acting for the licensee, ensuring license had licensee-friendly terms and plenty of allowances and flexibility for our client.

Private Sector Partnering and Contracting

Penny has significant experience in the negotiation and drafting of complex partnering and contracting arrangements, for example:

• Joint venture agreement with major local contractor in relation to a contract the parties won (tendering jointly) to a large water company.
• Refinancing of 5 solar energy sites, worth £20 million – acted for the Lenders, a significant international bank.
• Heads of Terms and Conditional Consent Agreement between a significant Oxford operator and a wind turbine company.
• Terms of Business for serviced apartments for a business with both a consumer and a corporate target audience.

Publications

• Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 04/20: Recovery and Transition from COVID-19
• COVID-19 – supplier relief under a new Procurement Policy Note
• “Review your contracts to get ahead of Brexit” – Construction News – 2020
• Health and social care and joint commissioning – Contributing author to Lexis Nexis’ 2016
• “A Contintental shift – is this your Pangaea?” 2015
• “Second Chances” – Inside Housing November 2013
• “The return of PFI” – Inside Housing May 2013
• “By the Book” – Local Government Lawyer 2010
• “Local authorities build on recession” – Housing Landscape 2009
• “Housing PFI credits are not the only jewels in the crown” – Housing Landscape 2009

Expertise

• Government
• Social Housing
• Commercial Contracts
• Local Authority (Including Leisure)
• Commercial IT Contracts
• IT Outsourcing
• Technology
• Utilities & Energy
• Franchising
• Infrastructure

Career

Penny joined Blake Morgan in October 2013.  Prior to that she worked within Bevan Brittan’s local government outsourcing team and headed up their leisure, culture and housing regeneration teams. She gained a 2:1 LLB in Business Law at the London Metropolitan University and after completing her Law Society Finals at Guildford College of Law, and training contract at Amery Parkes, qualified as a solicitor in 1995.

Penny has been consistently ranked as a Legal Individual in the Legal 500 directory and is also ranked in the Chambers and Partners UK guide.