Car Club Scheme - Portsmouth

Description

Portsmouth City Council - the 'council' - is inviting tenders from CoMoUK fully accredited operators for delivery of a car club scheme within the city on a concessionary basis following a mutually incentivised open book partnership model. The council is targeting to have secured a partner operator by 31st January 2023 who will then be required to work with the council to develop the scheme for review at the Traffic & Transportation (T&T) Cabinet meeting on 16th March 2023. The report taken to T&T will need to confirm as a minimum: • Vehicle locations and types • Business plan • Mobilisation and launch programme • Marketing and promotion strategy • Partnership and reporting model Subject to approval being obtained at the meeting and completion of statutory Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) processes, the successful operator will be required to effectively launch the scheme promptly over Spring 2023. The contract will be let using flexible commercial concession terms and will run for an initial period of 5 years from launch of the scheme extendable to a maximum term of 8 years at the discretion of the council in extension increments of no less than 1 year. The council forecasts that revenue that could be generated by the operator could equate to approx. £2M over the initial 5 year term based upon growing the fleet to 20 cars by year 3 increasing to £4.3M over an extended 8 year term based upon growing the fleet to 30 cars by year 6 on a maximum member utilisation basis. The council's spend on car hire for staff and grey fleet costs, which could be included within the contract at the option of the council at any point over the term of the agreement, equates to approx. £250,000 per annum. The operators car club fleet at point of launch and for the duration must meet Euro 6 emissions standards as a minimum for on street parking for residents and for Lakeside Business Park must provide BEV vehicles from the onset of the launch. Currently the on-street electric vehicle charging infrastructure comprises of 98 charging points located across the city. Subject to approval of funding bids the council is seeking to expand infrastructure significantly by a further 320 charging points by the end of 2023 of which 20 are anticipated to be reserved for the Car Club bays. In respect of designated parking areas for the car club fleet, the council has considered zonal models but has decided upon initially pursuing a fixed bay back to base model, although the council will reserve the right to investigate zonal and other models with the successful operator over the term of the contract. In order to support the establishment and development of the car club the council will charge the operator a significantly discounted rate of £30 per annum for on street parking permits and, council owned car parks if car park spaces prove suitable, In order to provide maximum scheme development flexibility over the term of the contract, the council will award the concession contract in accordance with the regulations that apply to 'light touch regime' services set out within the Public Concessions Regulations (2016). The council will run the procurement process in general accordance with the 'open procedure' as set out within the Public Contracts Regulations (2015), although the council's express position is that this approach does not give rise to any legal obligations to act in full accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations (2015). The procurement programme for awarding the concession contract is as follows: • Issue FTS Contract Notice & Contracts Finder Notice - 29th November 2022 • Procurement documentation available on InTend e-sourcing system - 29th November 2022 • Request for clarification deadline - 14th December 2022 23:59 • Tender return deadline - 4th January 2023 14:00 • Award decision notification - 19th January 2023 • Standstill period expiry - 30th January 2023 23:59 • Contract award - 31st January 2023 Lot 1: The car club operator will be expected to provide a 24 hours, 7 day a week fully managed service and to ensure all available vehicles are in full working order and operational at all times. The Concessionaire will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the car club, including customer support centre and all associated back-office functions, operating from designated bays approved by Portsmouth City Council. The car club operator which provides the mobilisation services and is responsible to operate a 'back-to-base' model under a concession contract whereby each vehicle is hired from and returned to the same designated bay. The operator will be required to provide for open book financial performance information and, where a revenue / profit share mechanism has been included for by the operator, the council will expect transfer of funds to be processed at the end of each contractual year. The concessionaire will have a period of four months to mobilise the service, this may be extended at the option of the Council if any delays are determined as justifiable to progress the scheme. Otherwise, the Council reserve the right to move to the next place tenderer(s). Once approved the concessionaire will then be given three months to launch the scheme and ensure that individuals are able to have a car. Otherwise, the Council will look to terminate the contract. See ITT and full specification within the tender pack for further details. Additional information: Establishment of a successful car club scheme in the city will contribute to the delivery of existing and emerging council strategies and plans, such as the Air Quality Local Plan, Air Quality Strategy, Local Transport Plan 4, emerging Parking Strategy and council corporate objectives for 'taking positive action to tackle climate change' and 'enabling greener, healthier, better-connected journeys'. The council also considers that there will be opportunities for the car club scheme to contribute towards the delivery of social value outcomes in line with the council's Social Value Policy. These could include for: • Discounting models for local low income and other disadvantaged residents • Discounting models for local VCS and SME organisations • Local employment and training opportunities, particularly in respect of disadvantaged groups • Contributions to local VCS partners and community projects The council envisages that the scheme will initially comprise of 8-10 vehicles located within 4 targeted residential areas and the Lakeside Business Park. Subject to demand the council forecasts that a fleet of approx. 30 vehicles could be accommodated within the city by the later years of the extended operational term. Fleet numbers could further increase if the council uses the car club scheme to satisfy its own car hire and grey fleet requirements. The operator will also be encouraged to develop expansion of their car club offer to local businesses and public sector partner organisations. In providing estimated fleet numbers and associated financial revenue projections the council is not placing any binding upper or lower volume and value parameters which would any way constrain development of the scheme and impact upon the ability of the operator concessionaire to maximise commercial performance of the scheme. The operator will be required to provide the council with regular reports on areas such as: • Memberships • Journeys • Open book financial performance • SLA / KPI performance • Customer feedback and complaints handling Beyond basic reporting requirements, the operator will be required to work in partnership with the council to devise and implement plans for scheme development, which will be informed by demand, resident feedback and relevant national & local strategic policy aims. The council will fund and arrange delivery of bay markings and statutory signage for the initial bays established at launch of the car club, up to a maximum of 10 bays. The council can also make up to £40,000 of seed funding available to the operator following approval of the scheme at the March T&T meeting. Whilst the council will work in partnership with the operator on TRO strategy, the council will take responsibility for placing TRO and managing the process. The council will expect the operator to participate in joint marketing and promotion campaigns at mobilisation, launch and development of the scheme over the course of the contract, although the operator will be expected to fund, organise and deliver all general operational marketing and promotion of the scheme. Beyond the activities and financial support that the council will provide or participate in set out above, the operator will be responsible for funding and delivery of all other scheme elements at mobilisation, launch and ongoing operation, including for: • Funding, sourcing, servicing and maintenance of car club vehicle fleet • Project management activities • Promotion and marketing • Booking systems, customer support and account management Future bay markings - Both new and maintenance Ongoing signage Subject to development of the Breeze App. Within 6 months of Go-Live Date of the contract the operator will be required to integrate the car club booking systems with the Breeze (Mobility-as-a-Service) mobile application launched by Solent Transport as part of the Future Transport Zone programme. The application will allow users to plan, book and pay for journeys across all public transport modes plus cycling, walking, driving, car clubs and e-scooters.