RSSB2666 - Marketing the UK Rail Industry's Technical Strategy - Supplier Engagement Event - Monday 13th November

RSSB is holding a supplier engagement event on Monday 13th November from 14:00 to 15:00 pertaining to RSSB2666 - Marketing the UK Rail Industry's Technical Strategy.

Should you be interested in attending please email the below email address by Friday 10th November 5pm with the organisation you are attending with:

[email protected] -- Introduction

This document provides a brief overview of a proposed RSSB tender for a marketing agency (or similarly capable organisation/individuals) to improve the rail supply chain's awareness of, and engagement with, the rail industry's technical strategy and work plans.

This document will be used to solicit pre-procurement advice from potential suppliers. This advice will be used in the drafting of the tender documentation and specification.

Background

Published in January 2017 the Rail Technical Strategy Capability Delivery Plan (CDP) sets out an ambitious vision and programme of research, development and technology demonstration work that has the potential to transform the GB railway - making it more customer focused, more affordable and sustainable. The desired outcomes from the programme are to halve the cost and carbon emissions from the railway, double capacity and delight customers (both passengers and freight customers).

Following the publication of the CDP the industry has assembled a team of eleven Work Package Owners (WPOs) who are building up the detailed delivery plans for the programme. These WPOs are drawn from a variety of organisations including: railway OEMs, infrastructure maintainers, rolling stock leasing companies, industry bodies, and suppliers.

The programme will begin to deliver its first projects in 2018, in advance of a significant industry investment (circa £800m over 5 years) starting in April 2019.

To date a light-touch approach has been taken to marketing, communicating and promoting the programme - this has mainly been done through presentations to industry groups and infrequent press releases. Whilst the programme has a good story to promote it has no recognisable brand or figurehead and despite the scale of the ambition it lacks the same penetration in the sector when compared with other programmes such as the Digital Railway programme.   Advice Being Sought

We intend to hold a suppliers' day to seek advice from potential suppliers.

The advice we are seeking includes but is not limited to: • The appropriate duration for a marketing campaign of this type • The key activities required to deliver the desired outcomes • What constitutes said activities • An indication of the required budget. • The methodology behind a marketing campaign of this type