Electrical Vehicle Charging Infrastructure and Operation - Partner Concession Agreement - ORCS Phase 3

Description

Portsmouth City Council ('the Council') is inviting tenders from suitably qualified and experienced service providers for the supply, installation, maintenance, operation and, at the Council's option, decommission of electrical vehicle charge points within the city. The successful service provider will be required to enter into a mutually incentivised open book concession agreement, working in close partnership with the Council and key stakeholders. The Council has secured approximately £887,000 of On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) funding from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) to support the delivery of up to approximately 320 charge points within the city, utilising lamp column technology (lamp post or bollards). Under the conditions of the grant funding charge points must be fully installed and commissioned by 31st March 2025. In addition to the approx. 320 future charge points which are the subject of this procurement process there are currently also 100 charge points installed across the city. These sites either in full or in part may, at the option of the Council, be incorporated into the scope of the concession agreement let via this procurement. The Council is targeting to have secured a service provider via this procurement process by 11th October 2024. Following the initial planning, installation and commissioning phase of the contract running from 11th October, or soon thereafter, the concession agreement will then run for a 15 year period starting from 1st April 2025, extendable by agreement by a maximum of a further year. The Council will allocate all of the £887,000 funding towards service provider supply, installation and commissioning costs. The service provider will be responsible for securing the required 40% match funding in line with grant funding conditions for the supply, installation and commissioning of the charge points. The Council will not be able to provide any funding to support operations and maintenance which will need to be solely funded by the operator through sales and financing. In order to support its own running costs for the scheme the Council is targeting a lower end contribution from the operator of approx. £30,000 payable by no later year 2 of the contract. The total revenue generation figure modelled by the Council for approx. 320 charge points taking account of increased uptake projections and inflation comes to approx. £24M over the life of the contract including for the initial implementation and 1 year extension option. With the inclusion of the existing locations this could rise to approx. £29M. When combined with the funding that the Council would make available to the operator this produces a total estimated value of £30M in terms of funding & revenue generation opportunity. The Council is providing these estimates for transparency purposes only and is not placing any binding upper or lower volume and value parameters. The Council will run the procurement process in compliance with the Concession Contracts Regulations (2016) following a process which is similar to the Open Procedure as set out within the Public Contracts Regulations (2015). 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 link: https://intendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/home The procurement timetable is set out below: • Notice published on FTS - 7th August 2024 • Procurement documents available on In-tend - 7th August 2024 • Bidders Briefing (online TEAMS meeting) - 13th August 2024 - 14:30 to 15:30 • Deadline for requests for clarification - 23rd August 2024 - 23:59 • Tender return deadline - 9th September 2024 - 12:00 • Presentation & Interview - TBC w/c 16th September 2024 • Award decision notified to tenderers - 30th September 2024 • Standstill period ends - 10th October 2024 - 23:59 • Contract award - 11th October 2024 Lot 1: SUMMARY SCOPE & ALLOCATIONS Detailed information including for an activity allocation table is included for within the specification document. However, in summary: The Council will be responsible for undertaking the following activities over both the implementation and operational phases: • Site Surveys • TRO Process • Joint site visits as required • Ongoing governance and political management The Council will work jointly with the service operator in respect of: • Funding the initial development • Marketing / Communications / Promotion • Liaising with Council Highways PFI Contractor Colas / Ensign who hold responsibility for maintenance of lamp column infrastructure The service operator will be responsible for: • Obtaining any licenses necessary to fulfil the contract / implementation • Funding and implementing any and all traffic signs and road markings associated with the installation of the EV charge bays including modifying any existing bays to make them enforceable • Funding and implementing provision, maintenance and removal of any and all EV infrastructure • Reporting faults • Liaison with DNO • Providing 24/7 customer support • Engaging with stakeholders • Submitting all reports on an accurate and timely basis DNO ENGAGEMENT, SITE SURVEYS, TRO & BATCHING The Council has identified 339 new site locations based upon resident demand and is working with the local District Network Operator (DNO) Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) to check on network capacity & viability. Load checks are being undertaken to ensure that chargepoints installed are compliant with the DNO connections policy. This will also enable the identification of any works that are required to bring connections up to policy standard. Site surveys are being undertaken by geographical zones in order to make the most efficient use of engineer time and address programme pressures. Geographic areas will be prioritised by those which do not currently have charging provision in line with demand. As each geographic batch of sites is inspected and approved, the Council will then seek to take the batch of sites through the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) process and instigate the statutory consultation period. The Council's intention is to overlap the seeking of approval to instigate the TRO process for a batch of sites in parallel with the technical surveys for next batch of sites in order to streamline the overall programme, mitigate funding timescale risk and minimise access disadvantages to residents living in batched areas which fall within the later phases of the programme. The Council is working with its TRO Team to help ensure that resources are in place to handle objections and ensure that the process is efficiently managed. The Council cannot guarantee that a fixed number of sites will be available for charge point installation within a set timeframe as this will be subject to network viability, Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) approvals amongst other factors. EXPANSION OPTION In addition to the approx. 320 future charge points which are the subject of this procurement process there are currently also 100 charge points installed across the city. These sites either in full or in part may, at the option of the Council, be incorporated into the scope of the concession agreement let via this procurement. If incorporated the operator would take the benefit of existing site location connection infrastructure, TRO status, bay lining & signing but would be required to install their own charge point equipment although the incumbent operators would have responsibility for removal and disposal of existing equipment. FUNDING The Council will allocate all of the £887,000 funding towards service provider supply, installation and commissioning costs. The service provider will be responsible for securing the required 40% match funding in line with grant funding conditions for the supply, installation and commissioning of the charge points. The Council will not be able to provide any funding to support operations and maintenance which will need to be solely funded by the operator through sales and financing. The Council will release funding to the service provider incrementally in arrears based upon evidence of successful commission of charge points in line with the Construction Act. INCOME In order to support its own running costs for the scheme the Council is targeting a lower end contribution from the operator of approx. £30,000 payable by no later year 2 of the contract. The contribution model should also ideally account for inflation with the amount targeted to increase year on year in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation figures. Contribution payments to the Council are to ideally be made on a quarterly basis. Operators are required to provide for a revenue share contribution model based on a fixed pence per KwH model. At the option of the operator a fixed payment per commissioned bay charge may also be proposed in addition to the pence per KwH model. For both revenue share and bay charge proposals operators may also include for profiling based upon, for instance, charge point numbers and / or level of sales. Operators may also include for additional Council income proposals as long as they are complimentary to rather than in substitution of the mandatory pence per KwH revenue share requirement. In the event that the amount paid to the Council consistently significantly exceeds the minimum amount the Council may, at its discretion, opt to cap the amount paid on the condition that any surplus funds are used to directly benefit end users through tariff charges, service improvements, etc. REVENUE PROJECTIONS The Council's business case financial model shows an estimated revenue generation estimate of approx. £900,000 for the initial years of the contract rising incrementally to approx. £1.8M by the later years of the contract. This increase is based upon increased utilisation through higher take up of electric vehicles by city residents over time and application of inflation. If the Council opts to incorporate the additional existing 100 charge point locations into the scheme this could equate to an additional approx. £200,000 per annum in the early years of the contract rising to £400,000 by the later years. The total revenue generation figure modelled by the Council for approx. 320 charge points comes to approx. £24M over the life of the contract including for the initial implementation and 1 year extension option. With the inclusion of the existing locations this could rise to approx. £29M. When combined with the funding that the Council would make available to the operator this produces a total estimated value of £30M in terms of funding & revenue generation opportunity. The Council's completed illustrative business model template which has been used to calculate the above figures is included within the procurement documents. The Council is providing these estimates for transparency purposes only and is not placing any binding upper or lower volume and value parameters. CONTRACTUAL TERM & ARRANGEMENTS The Terms and Conditions of Contract are included within the procurement documents. The successful Tenderer will be required to enter into a contract on the basis of these terms and conditions. For the avoidance of doubt, these terms and conditions are not materially negotiable and accordingly the Council will not accept any material amendments to the terms and conditions and any tender that purports to materially amend, qualify or caveat the terms and conditions may be rejected by the Council. Following the initial planning, installation and commissioning phase of the contract running from 11th October, or soon thereafter, the concession agreement will then run for a 15 year period starting from 1st April 2025, extendable by agreement by a maximum of a further year. The contract will allow the possibility of a short extension on the same basis for administrative constraints of one year, without a commitment to extend and ensure continuity of provision through decommissioning. SOCIAL VALUE 1The Council approved the adoption of a Social Value Policy at Full Council in March 2021. The policy and supporting documentation is accessible via the procurement documents. Further information in respect of social value obligations and reporting requirements are set out within the procurement documents. Tenderers are required to complete and submit quantitative social value commitments and a supporting method statement as part of their tender submission.