DECISION NOTICE – Cabinet Member for Housing, Neighbourhoods and Planning. AB

Report Title Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) – Award of Purchasing and Maintenance Contract Delegations Checked This decision is proposed in accordance with the delegations for the Cabinet Member for Housing, Neighbourhoods and Planning as set out at delegation number 3.7.1 (a) of Part 3 of the delegation document.

Name and contact details of Amy Wardell officer requesting the Amy.wardell@peterborough.gov.uk decision 01733 317481 Is the report or background Yes. information attached to this request exempt? The attached report/background information is NOT FOR PUBLICATION in accordance with paragraph )3 of Schedule 12A of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972 in that it contains information relating to financial and business affairs, namely, the contract price submitted by the successful bidder. The public interest test has been applied to the information contained within the exempt annex and it is considered that the need to retain the information as exempt outweighs the public interest in it because to disclose it could compromise the Council’s position in any future procurement exercise for similar services.

Is this a Key Decision Yes

If yes, has it been included in the current Forward Plan Yes

Details of decision required Authority for the Executive Director – Operations to award the contract for the maintenance and expansion (within available resources) of a bus real time passenger information system to Advance Communications and Information Systems Limited (ACIS)for a period of 5 years.

E:\moderngov\data\published\Intranet\IssueDocs\0\8\0\6\I00006080\DE00000323\$s1kjskga.doc Reasons for recommending This decision seeks approval to purchase bus hardware, bus operator decision and any relevant terminals (hardware and software), on street signs and additional background information infrastructure required for the expansion of the system.

This contract will therefore include the design, manufacture, delivery to site, erection, testing, completion and the remedying of defects of Real Time Passenger Information (‘RTPI’) equipment. The maintenance of this equipment will ensure the safe ongoing operation of this equipment.

The authority to enter into a partnership agreement with Cambridgeshire County Council, Bedford Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council and Luton Borough Council to continue implementing a county wide real time passenger information system was approved by a Cabinet Member Decision on 30 October 2009. This incorporated the approval of an annual membership payment that goes towards the management and maintenance of the RTPI central system. With this foundation, the existing equipment (screens, on bus kit, operator terminals etc) require maintenance and new equipment needs to be purchased in order to continue implementing the scheme. This equipment will be purchased and maintained through this proposed contract between Peterborough City Council and the supplier.

The award of this contract will deliver many benefits and is being recommended for the following reasons: • Reduced costs and officer time spent on the management of the contract due to being managed by the consortium; • Reduced unit costs for the purchasing and maintenance of RTPI equipment – through economy of scale; • Will allow continued operation of existing system and technology already in place; • Ensures bus operators across the area are all equipped with the same technology; • System is too expensive to continue without this contract with other authorities.

Background Authority was given on 14 December 2005 via a cabinet member decision notice for Peterborough City Council to award the contracts for the supply and maintenance of real time passenger information equipment. This contract needs to be renewed and the RTPI consortium has now identified a preferred supplier following the necessary procurement exercise.

RTPI is not possible if PCC are not part of the partnership contract with neighbouring authorities. Entering into a contract with the consortiums preferred supplier is the only feasible way forward to continue implementing and maintaining this technology.

RTPI can improve service reliability through the analysis of vehicle movements, leading to improved fleet management by operators and the identification of bus priority measures by local authorities. RTPI also reduces the need for conventional timetables at bus stops and the work required to replace these when timetables change.

Financial implications The financial implications of this contract will involve: • The purchasing of new equipment - Peterborough City Councils capital allocation for on bus hardware, bus operator terminals (hardware and software), on street displays and new innovative equipment needed for the expansion of the system is included in

E:\moderngov\data\published\Intranet\IssueDocs\0\8\0\6\I00006080\DE00000323\$s1kjskga.doc the LTP2 budget allocations. The agreed budget is £110,000 for 2010/11 and it is anticipated that a budget of approximately £50- 100K will be assigned to RTPI on a yearly basis as part of LTP3 capital allocations (due to RTPI being included in the 5 year Medium Term Financial Strategy). • The maintenance of existing and new equipment – There will be an annual revenue cost to cover the maintenance of this on street equipment along with a membership payment to the consortium. This membership payment is for the management and maintenance of the RTPI central system (as approved in the CMDN for partnership working on 30/10/09). However a proportion of this total maintenance is met by bus operators for on bus and depot equipment and through operator’s payment of a membership contribution which reduces the annual maintenance cost to Peterborough City Council. Following on from this, the ongoing maintenance cost for the Council is dependent on the expansion of the system as over the next five years, it is proposed that more equipment will be purchased through capital resources to expand the system (more displays at bus stops etc) and as a result there will be more equipment to be maintained with associated revenue consequences. This will need to be costed and agreed as affordable when LTP3 allocations are assigned to ensure that ongoing revenue costs are covered within existing resources. All decisions to allocate a RTPI budget will be made at the LTP3 Programme Board and the Public Transport Project Board will administer all decisions for purchasing new equipment. It should be noted that there will be no impact on revenue costs if a budget is not assigned through LTP3 as there will be no new equipment purchased.

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Alternative options considered and Peterborough City Council is committed to improving the quality of public transport rejected information through real time passenger information. This also forms an integral part of the Travelchoice project. If this option does not proceed, Peterborough will be unable to progress and maintain the existing RTPI system and will not benefit from the shared central system and the benefits from the partnership working with neighbouring authorities.

An alternative to awarding this contract with the consortium would be to purchase and maintain independently as a local authority. This would involve starting again with purchasing a central system. To implement a RTPI system independently would increase costs significantly. This approach would incur significantly higher costs for the system because there would be more components to purchase when implementing alone and the costs of these components would be higher.

The bus operator is an important aspect of any bus RTPI system. The bus operator will contribute, in terms of revenue costs to the project and without the commitment the project would become unfeasible. As the main operator in Peterborough, Cambridge and Bedford is Stagecoach, there are benefits to the operator in reduced maintenance costs through economy of scale and therefore this strengthens their business case. If the units are purchased independently due to not being part of the consortium contract, the cost per unit will rise and the operator is unlikely to continue taking part in the project.

The final alternative would be to not sign the contract and therefore not have an RTPI system in Peterborough. This would mean that the previous investment in the central system would be lost and the existing equipment on the buses and at the bus stops would deteriorate (due to not being maintained) and would have to be switched off. This would also have a negative impact on partnership working with other local authorities and bus operators involved.

Declarations / Declarations of any other Cabinet Members consulted by the Cabinet Member conflict of interest making the decision. The Cabinet Member should be reminded to declare any interests/conflicts of interest here.

E:\moderngov\data\published\Intranet\IssueDocs\0\8\0\6\I00006080\DE00000323\$s1kjskga.doc Dispensations In respect of any declared conflict of interest in relation to the decision, any granted dispensation granted by the Secretary of State/Standards Committee. The Cabinet Member should detail any dispensations granted in this box.

Consultation Section Name Outcome Date (officers/ward Ward Councillors councillors) (if decision is ward Legal and finance specific) should be consulted regarding the Legal Israr Ahmed Approved 12/05/10 proposals. Ward Kim Sawyer Councillors, other Finance Karen Franklin Cabinet Members and Steven officers should be Pilsworth Approved 25/05/10 consulted if the Democratic Services Alana Hair Approved 30/04/10 proposals will have an impact on their service Procurement Project Andy Cox Approved 19/05/10 area/ward. Director Zoe Geldart (if decision is contract/procurement related) Head of Strategic Property (if decision is property related) Other Officers / Teresa Wood Approved 24/05/10 Members

Director's approval Paul Phillipson, Executive Director of Operations 26/05/2010 Directors are requested not to sign if the above section is incomplete Date sent to Cabinet 26/05/2010 Member if key decision If key decision – date 04/06/2010 decision may be taken Cabinet Member Cllr P Hiller, Cabinet Member for Housing, 04/06/2010 approval Neighbourhoods and Planning

Reasons for making Option 1 decision I agree with the officer’s reasons for recommending the Please tick one of the decision. Options

Option 2 I agree with the officer’s reasons for recommending the decision and have the following additional comments to make.

Once signed by Director, please pass to Democratic Services. We will contact the Cabinet Member and arrange for signature.

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