Portsmouth City Council is seeking tenders for the delivery of park & ride bus services with options for dedicated, hybrid, and electric services, allowing for various bid proposals and service schedules, with a procurement process timeline running from May to July 2024.
Park & Ride Bus Service - Portsmouth. Portsmouth City Council - the 'council' - is inviting tenders from suitably qualified and experienced operators for the delivery of park & ride bus services. The dedicated Park & Ride terminal located adjacent to the M275 at Tipner was opened in 2014 and currently has 665 car parking spaces. It provides a frequent, quick, high-quality bus link between the Park & Ride site and the city. Further information in respect of the park & ride facilities, schedules and ticketing options can be found on the website via the link below: https://parkandride.portsmouth.gov.uk/facilities.shtml Tickets are provided by the council through an off- bus ticket machine or via a smart card or other routes. The tickets are on a fixed price scheme for a number of occupants in the car. This will also apply to the new arrangements which are the subject of this procurement whereby the successful operator will be paid a fixed agreed amount for running the service and not required to provide an on-bus ticketing option. The council will continue to take demand risk but will expect the operator to work in partnership to identify and implement initiatives which increase sales, improve the service and reduce costs over the term of the contract. The council is seeking to address financial, service and environmental objectives and consider options through the procurement process in respect of service coverage, financial and environmental objectives. In order to investigate these options and enable the council to arrive at a fully informed market tested decision tenders will be invited against a range of Lots and Sub-Lots, being: Lot 1 - Dedicated Service - Euro 6 Vehicles • Lot 1A - Current Service Schedule & Frequencies • Lot 1B - Reduced Service Schedule & Frequencies Lot 2 - Dedicated Service - Fully Electric Service • Lot 2A - Current Service Schedule & Frequencies • Lot 2B - Reduced Service Schedule & Frequencies Lot 3 - Hybrid Service - Euro 6 Vehicles as Minimum • Lot 3A - Current Service Schedule & Frequencies as minimum Tenderers have the option of tendering for one, all or any combination of Lot and Sub-Lot options. Each Lot and Sub-Lot will be evaluated separately. In respect of Lot 3 Tenderers have the option of submitting up to 3 bid proposals for consideration. The Council will then review the options and award the contract to the highest ranking tenderer for the Lot and associated Sub-Lot selected. Based upon current operations which align with option Lot 1A the council estimates the value of the contract to be approximately £480,000 per annum. Whilst the council cannot provide an accurate forecast or guarantee of take up of optional seasonal services, extensions and ad-hoc services take up of these options could equate to a maximum further value of £100,000 per annum. Based upon the contract running for 8 years, full take up of additional service options and application of inflation the value of the contract could equate to approximately £5.1M. The council will run the procurement process in accordance with the 'Open Procedure' as set out within the Public Contracts Regulations (2015). The procurement programme is set out below: • Issue FTS Contract Notice - 6th May 2024 • Issue Tender Documents via In-tend - 6th May 2024 • Bidder Briefing (via teams) - 14th May 2024 12:00 - 13:00 • Request for Clarification Deadline - 28th May 12:00 • Tender Return Deadline - 7th June 2024 12:00 • Award Decision Notification - 5th July 2024 • Standstill Period Expiry - 15th July 2024 23:59 • Contract Award - 16th July 2024 • Contract Service Commencement - 1st September 2024 Application is via submission of completed tender by the deadline stated above via the Council's e-sourcing system In-tend, which is accessible via: https://intendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/home. The system will be used to administrate the procurement process in its entirety, guidance documentation is available via the link above. Dedicated Service - Euro 6 Vehicles Lot 1 - Dedicated Service - Euro 6 Vehicles • Lot 1A - Current Service Schedule & Frequencies • Lot 1B - Reduced Service Schedule & Frequencies Lot 2 - Dedicated Service - Fully Electric Service Lot 2 - Dedicated Service - Fully Electric Service • Lot 2A - Current Service Schedule & Frequencies • Lot 2B - Reduced Service Schedule & Frequencies The contract will run for a maximum total term of 8 years, as permitted under the Transport Act (1985) with no further option to extend. The council is inviting bids on a longer 8 year base term for Lot 2 in view of the higher acquisition costs for fully electric vehicles which may need to be spread over a longer period of time. In respect of Lot 2 the successful operator may initially run the service using Euro 6 vehicles on the condition that the service is delivered by a fully electric vehicle before the end of the first year of the contract. The successful operator will be required to provide an off site charging solution for the electric vehicles as the council cannot at present provide charging at either the Park & Ride site or the Hard Terminal. Lot 3 - Hybrid Service - Euro 6 Vehicles as Minimum Lot 3 - Hybrid Service - Euro 6 Vehicles as Minimum • Lot 3A - Current Service Schedule & Frequencies as minimum In respect of Lot 3 Tenderers have the option of submitting up to 3 bid proposals for consideration. Lot 3 allows for tenderers to include for delivery in part or in full through the re-direction of existing services that they currently operate in order to provide efficiencies which could, for instance, allow for proposals which provide for increased frequencies and / or cost reductions. Tenders submitted against this Lot option must meet the current schedule & frequencies as a minimum but may, in view of capacity considerations, put forward increased frequencies for example. All vehicles must be Euro 6 as a minimum however tenderers may also include for full or partial use of electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, HVO fuel vehicles, etc.