Streetlighting Services - Maintenance & Capital programme

Future Street Lighting Service

What Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council are seeking from the market

Staffordshire County Council (SCC) and Stoke-on-Trent City Council (SoTCC) are working together to develop successor arrangements for their existing street lighting PFI contracts, which expire on 18 May 2028 and 31 August 2028 respectively. Our priority is to secure a safe, legal, reliable and value-for-money service, with effective mobilisation and uninterrupted service continuity from the relevant commencement date for each authority.

Our anticipated requirement

Subject to the outcome of the business case and formal approvals, the current direction is a jointly procured, single-contractor service, potentially comprising separate authority-specific arrangements under a common commercial and technical structure.

The anticipated scope includes:

• planned, preventative and reactive maintenance;
• emergency attendance and response;
• electrical and structural inspections, testing and compliance;
• investigation and repair of faults referred by the authorities;
• access to professional, technical and street lighting design services where required;
• delivery of flexible capital investment and asset-replacement programmes;
• maintenance of accurate, accessible and authority-owned asset information;
• customer, stakeholder and third-party liaison; and
• mobilisation, transition and service-continuity support.

This integrated model is intended to provide clear end-to-end accountability while retaining flexibility for design services to be commissioned through the contractor where required, thereby managing operational interfaces and supporting effective delivery.

The present planning assumption is an initial four-year contract with an option to extend for up to a further four years. Any extension would be subject to satisfactory performance, affordability, value for money and the requirements of the successor authorities.

What we want from our future contractor

We are looking for a capable and collaborative delivery partner that can:

• Protect public safety and statutory compliance, supported by competent people, robust systems and clearly defined emergency and routine response arrangements.
• Deliver a reliable, customer-focused service, responding to faults referred by the authorities and completing investigations and repairs within agreed service levels, while supporting the authorities’ management of customer enquiries and complaints.
• Assume clear operational accountability across maintenance, inspection and capital delivery, with the capability to provide design services when commissioned and to work effectively with each authority’s intelligent-client team.
• Demonstrate whole-life value, balancing maintenance, energy consumption, capital replacement, risk, asset condition and long-term affordability rather than focusing only on the lowest initial price.
• Mobilise successfully from the existing PFI arrangements, including the controlled transfer and validation of asset, maintenance, condition and operational information.
• Maintain high-quality asset data, with open access for the authorities, appropriate interfaces with authority systems and no avoidable supplier dependency.
• Provide flexibility, allowing each authority to vary investment levels, service priorities and programmes within an agreed contractual framework.
• Drive measurable improvement, including energy efficiency, carbon reduction, productivity, digital working and appropriate use of central management, smart asset and connectivity technologies.
• Support responsible employment and supply-chain practices, including workforce transition where applicable, health and safety, skills development, local economic benefit, social value and opportunities for SMEs.
• Operate through open-book, evidence-led contract management, with meaningful performance measures, timely reporting, effective escalation and a constructive approach to resolving problems.
• Identify innovation and commercial opportunities, where these offer a demonstrable benefit to the authorities and communities, with benefits, savings and risks shared on a fair and transparent basis.

These expectations reflect the authorities’ emphasis on whole-life value, flexibility, innovation, energy efficiency, clear service levels, effective KPIs and strong contract management.