As law firms test new ways to woo clients and companies experiment with new ways to assess their outside firms, General Electric is preparing to launch its search to determine who will win coveted four-year spots on its roster of regular outside counsel next year.

“We are going to be designing the next iteration of the program,” said Sharis Pozen, a vice president in GE's law department who oversees the GE Select Program and focuses on antitrust matters for the company.

Overall, the company expects to drive a hard bargain, recognizing that law firms working for GE gain marketplace clout.

“The volume and quality of work that we represent—folks are desirous of our work,” Pozen said.

During the competition, bidding firms should expect GE to focus on their value proposition and the diversity of their ranks, Pozen said. She was echoed by Chris Ende, who joined GE's law department from Goodwin Procter in August 2016 as its head of law firm pricing, solutions and panel management.

Alex Dimitrief, the company's general counsel, sets “value as his North Star and diversity as his passion,” Ende said.

For law firms, rising competition and stagnant demand, particularly for litigators, have upped the significance of so-called beauty contests between firms to represent key corporate clients.

“Litigation is getting to be tougher sledding for many firms, particularly for firms that are not pre-eminent or among the best in any particular subarea of litigation, or geographical area,” said Kent Zimmermann, a legal consultant at the Zeughauser Group.

To stand out for such big-ticket clients as GE, firms must increasingly offer more than just flawless legal pedigrees, 24/7 service and strategic smarts. For GE in particular, that means meeting benchmarks for diversity, but also sometimes providing other services of value for the company—“bells and whistles” as Pozen described them.

The GE Select Program, which the company has offered for decades, allows GE to have fewer but deeper relationships with outside firms, which offer their services at discounted rates and, in exchange, get the company's four-year commitment that their lawyers will be eligible to work for GE.

In addition to straight discounts, firms may offer alternative pricing arrangements such as flat fees, success fees and portfolio pricing. Such alternative fee setups can “make us feel they have skin in the game,” Pozen said.

Among other special services firms now provide, according to Pozen: They are setting up hotlines though which her department may reach a firm lawyer and get free advice about specific targeted matters. And they are more often arranging to have their associates work directly inside GE's legal department through temporary secondments, with the mutual benefits of added in-house muscle and a stronger yoke between client and firm.

“Companies like General Electric have always been savvy purchasers. We are getting more savvy,” Pozen said. Still, she added: “Our goal is never to drive such a hard bargain that we hurt a law firm, their lawyers or their ability to attract talent.”

The company is just beginning the process of designing upcoming competition, since the current GE Select program will expire in 2018. No expectations are yet set at GE for how many firms will compete.