Contracted Bus Services - Portsmouth

Portsmouth City Council- the 'council' - is seeking tenders from suitably qualified and experienced Contractors for the provision of contracted supported bus services to ensure a continuous provision of socially desirable bus routes where there are no commercial services but there is a demand from residents and visitors who otherwise would be unserved by public transport.

Under the contracting model the successful Contractor/s will finance operation of the services through a combination of subsidy provided by the Council fixed at point of tender and passenger fare income.

The services relate to six existing routes which are currently operated by First Hampshire & Dorset. Each route is being tendered as a specific Lot with the Council entering into an individual contract for each Lot / Route. Each Lot includes for Sub-Lot options comprises of the current route timetable (Sub-Lot Option A) along with further specified timetable reduction / addition options.

The Lots and Sub-Lot options are set out within Section II.2. Summary data in respect of Lot specific fare revenue & Council subsidy values for period 1st April 2022 - 31st March 2023 plus patronage / passenger numbers for period December 2021 - November 2022 is also included within Section II.2.

Tenderers / Contractors may submit tenders for any or all Lots and Sub-Lot options in any combination. For each Lot only one Sub-Lot option will be awarded from, multiple Sub-Lot option awards will not be made from any of the Lots.

The council is targeting to have awarded contracts for all routes by 20th June 2023 with services commencing for all routes from 30th July 2023.

Each contract will run for a base term of 3 years and each will have an option to extend by a further 5 years in increments to be agreed, subject to agreement and performance of both parties, up to a maximum total term of 8 years as permitted under the Transport Act (1985).

Tenderers should note that the contract values stated within this notice have been issued solely for the purposes of form submission requirements and are legally non-binding upon the Council.

The value published under Section II.1.5, of £9,184,184 has been calculated by summing reported revenue and Council subsidy values for each of the Lots / Routes for period of 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023 and then multiplying by a factor 8 in line with the maximum extended total term that each of the contracts may run for.

The Council will run the procurement process in accordance with the 'Open Procedure' as set out within the Public Contracts Regulations (2015). The procurement timetable is set out below:

• Contract notice published on Find a Tender - 21st April 2023
• Procurement documents available on In-tend - 21st April 2023
• Deadline for requests for clarification - 10th May 2023 - 23:59
• Tender return deadline - 22nd May 2023 - 12:00
• Award Decision Notification - 8th June 2023
• Standstill period starts - 9th June 2023
• Standstill period ends - 19th June - 23:59
• Contract Award - 20th June 2023
• Commencement of Services - All Lots / Routes - 30th July 2023

The Council reserves the right at its absolute discretion to vary the timetable at any point during the procurement. Should the Council make any changes to the procurement programme notification will be issued to all Tenderers via In-tend.

The Council will administrate the procurement process using its e-sourcing system In-tend. The In-tend system can be accessed free of charge via the following web address:

intendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/home ↗

Tenderers that are not familiar with the In-tend system are advised to refer to the Supplier Guidance included within the procurement documents and accessible via the Help area of the In-tend system.

Tenders must be submitted no later than the submission deadline stated above and must be returned via In-tend following the process set out within the Supplier Guidance document.