North Northamptonshire Council Market engagement notice for the tendering of local bus services by North Northamptonshire Council in Spring 2024

This email is part of the process to undertake a procurement exercise to obtain a number of contracts to pursue the goals contained within the North Northamptonshire Bus Service Improvement Plan (see link below). These contract opportunities have been informed by the network review of local bus services which has been undertaken during 2023 involving operators, education transport, community groups and large employers.

We will be using several funding sources including BSIP Plus, Section 106, education transport flows and the regular public transport budget to fund contracts that range from 1 to 4 years . The tender returns will be evaluated against several criteria that may include value for money, carbon impact of vehicle and the financial sustainability of service after the end of the contract, (this is an illustrative, not a definitive list). These contracts will contain several opportunities for all operators of vehicles between 8 to 80 seats, principally to those operators who want to use the funding to provide commercial operation after an initial contract period and operators who can provide supported services in rural areas.

We have a return spreadsheet which details the services we may be interested in supporting, which we would like operators to review. This will allow operators to indicate whether they would like to provide the service commercially, with a De Minimis contribution or to participate in a tender competition. You do not need to complete the spreadsheet to participate. However, if you do complete it the information you provide will be progressed as a priority.

We also have not included all the De minis contracts which we intend to let, however if you want to provide a new service that meets the aims of the North Northamptonshire BSIP, please provide details on the return spreadsheet and we will consider options.

We would be grateful if you could return the spreadsheet by 17:00 on the 24 January 2024 to [email protected] using the words "Spring 2024 Local Bus Tender Round" in the email heading bar. Please use this email address if you have any questions and title your questions in a similar manner as that outlined above. We anticipate that the tender release will be before the end of February 2024 for the services commencing from 14 April to September 2024.

North Northamptonshire Bus Service Improvement Plan https://northnorthants.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s3802/BSIP 2021 North v1.0.pdf