Dengie Peninsula Local Bus & Education Transport Network Tender for services from September 2012 Supplier Guide Version 3 (19/1/12) Introduction The contract for the local bus “D” services network operated by Stephensons of Essex on behalf of Essex County Council (ECC) will expire at the end of August 2012. The Passenger Transport team has conducted a detailed consultation exercise with parish representatives and the general public throughout 2011 with the aim of reassessing the needs of the local community and how our services can be designed to better meet those needs. This has come during a time of increased financial pressures on the transport industry and ECC. The consultation has produced several options which have the potential to deliver a service more closely aligned to needs, together with the opportunity to achieve better value for money. ECC has a subsidy limit of £5 cost per passenger journey. The current service is operating close to this limit and it is acknowledged that changes are necessary to ensure this limit is not breached, in order to safeguard our ability to meet the needs of residents. The Dengie Peninsula has close ties with three major secondary schools, which are generally located at key employment, education, healthcare, general shopping and leisure destinations. The opportunity has arisen to tender the bulk of ECC’s statutory education transport requirements to these schools at the same time as the bus network. It will be possible for suppliers to propose combined bids where they are able to offer better value by doing so. Tender Options Local bus options will be as follows: • Hybrid bus and Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) network; hourly bus service linking Maldon and Mayland, Steeple, Latchingdon, Cold Norton and Purleigh with DRT for remaining areas unserved by the existing 31X commercial service • 2 x two-hourly services linking Maldon and Burnham-on-Crouch via parishes broadly north and south of the existing 31X commercial service • March 2012 “D” network with withdrawal of D5 and D3 services • DRT for the entire peninsula, taking passengers to their destination directly or via 31X/rail connections Education transport will be for these schools: • Ormiston Rivers Academy, Burnham-on-Crouch • The William De Ferrers School, South Woodham Ferrers • The Plume School, Maldon Bids are invited for 1, 4 and 7 year minimum terms of operation. Supplier Participation The tender is open to all suppliers subject to our standard Education Transport and Local Bus terms & conditions (available as attachments) with certain amendments as specified in the specifications. Bids are invited from commercial and voluntary sector (note that for local bus work a section 22 licence will be required) operators. Many elements of the work are being advertised using ‘output based’ specifications without timetables, to enable suppliers to meet needs in the most efficient way they can. This is a new way of tendering for ECC and suppliers should not hesitate to contact us if there are any questions about how these operate. Consortium bids will be considered. Where suppliers wish to tender jointly, it must be clearly stated whether a single prime contractor is intended to be responsible for all work or if responsibilities will be divided between parties. Tender Process & Support The tender will be conducted electronically on the Ariba e-sourcing portal. This has replaced Bravo as ECC’s e-sourcing service. Full instructions will be provided throughout the tender and training has been made available to suppliers during January. Combined bids of of a local bus lot and/or education lot(s) must be submitted in a separate file where prompted. It must be made explicitly clear which lots are being combined and for what length of contract. For each combination a separate annual rate breakdown (based on the standard principles quoted in the pricing sections) must be supplied for each lot included in the combination.There will be an opportunity to attach additional information at the end of the tender. Due to the nature of Ariba and in the interests of simplicity, only one attachment can be uploaded for any one question. If you need to submit multiple files please place them in a single zip file before uploading. It is essential that all tender related correspondence is directed through the message board facility on Ariba for audit purposes. Communications via other means will be redirected. In most cases, the answers to any questions will be sent to all participants. Lead officers for the tender will be: Paul Rowden – Senior Local Bus Officer (local bus & DRT elements, tender co- ordination) Email: [email protected] Stephen Good – Transport Operations Manager - Education Transport (education transport elements) Email: [email protected] Rachael Price – Senior Accessibility Planning Officer (consultation, local bus & DRT elements, tender co-ordination) Email: [email protected] As well as training and guidance from ECC, a freephone helpline for technical issues is provided by Ariba. Details can be found within the Ariba portal by following the ‘contact’ links. Partnership Working Due to the significance of the services being tendered and the changes that will be delivered for passengers, the winning supplier(s) and ECC will be expected to demonstrate partnership working and collaboration throughout the life of the contract. ECC will review performance closely, especially during the mobilisation and service launch phases. It is a requirement that suppliers co-operate with reasonable requests to supply management information (including usage data) and participate in liaison meetings. Decision Making ECC reserves the option to award or not award any options at its sole discretion. Only one local bus option will be awarded in addition to service provision at each of the schools. For any option(s) awarded, the winning operator(s) will be chosen on the basis of price. Bids that do not comply with the specification are likely to be invalid. While there is no quality scoring, additional information will be required when bidding for certain options to demonstrate compliance with the specification. Bids missing this information are likely to be invalid. The final choice of option(s) will be constrained by the available budget and the needs of the community. Announcement of provisional contract awards is expected by mid-April, subject to cabinet member approval. Tender Specifications Local Bus Options Local Bus Option 1 1x Hourly Bus Service with Demand Responsive Transport for Unserved Parishes Tender No: DG007 Start Date: 26/08/2012 Requirements Operator to submit details of a proposed Monday-Saturday service, addressing the following needs: • Timetable for a standard bus service meeting the service level stated below • A telephone booking line answered between 0600-2000 Monday-Saturday • Assistance with onward/connecting journey planning for passengers making bookings, to match DRT journeys to connecting journeys • Systems to record and co-ordinate bookings to maximise efficiency of vehicle utilisation and service provision to passengers, while minimising mileage operated. • Creation and administration of a passenger database to support the efficient provision of the service, provide management information (patronage, fares taken, vehicle movements), and detect service abuse (e.g. passengers not showing up for booked journeys). • Systems to keep booked passengers informed of disruption to their planned journey Contract type Net cost (operator sets and keeps fares) bids only are permitted. The operator will be required to investigate and adopt through ticketing arrangements for connecting services where viable following award of the contract, working in partnership with Essex County Council. Example fare structures are included within the attachments. Operators will be required to charge child fares up to the age of 16. Fares are to be capped at the Essex Saver rate of £8. Concessionary bus passes must also be accepted. Responsibility for publicising the service (using media including but not necessarily limited to leaflets and a website) will be shared between ECC and the operator working in partnership with local representatives. Funding arrangements are to be negotiated post-award. Service level Hourly standard bus access to Maldon (including access to St Peter's Hospital, Morrisons and Tesco) for Mayland, Steeple, Latchingdon, Cold Norton and Purleigh parishes. DRT service adapted to meet pre-booked requirements. The minimum pre-booking time for a journey will be 1h in advance, maximum of 28 days notice. The DRT service will be registered with the Traffic Commissioner as a fully flexible bus service. Please note that students carried on the existing D3 service are not included in this requirement. These movements will be included in the accompanying school transport lots. Connections to schools have been retained for the potential benefit of students not entitled to school transport. Geographical limits Journeys may ordinarily only start or finish in the DRT served area shown on the map. Journeys that can reasonably be completed by commercial bus service (31X and associated services), the contracted bus service or train are prohibited. Journeys starting or finishing within a restricted zone are permitted where the origin/destination within the restricted zone cannot reasonably be reached by commercial bus service, the contracted bus service or train. An example of a permitted point would be ASDA in South Woodham Ferrers. The service may only carry passengers on the part of their journey within the DRT served area that is not possible by commercial bus service, contracted bus service or train. For clarity, waiting for the next available 31X or train departure would not be considered unreasonable, i.e. the service may not be used for an extended trip to avoid a connection. Operating hours First journeys from approx 0600, last journeys complete by 2000 Specific needs • Access to the nearest railway station at morning/evening peak commuting times for all parishes in the Dengie Peninsula.