First Greater Western Platform Validators (PVAL) Supporting Information Issued by: First Group IT Procurement st Date: 21 June 2021 Commercial in Confidence 1. Introduction 1.1 FirstGroup plc (FG) is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America. 1.2 “Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world; keeping people moving and communities prospering.” 1.3 Our services help to create strong, vibrant and sustainable local economies and our opportunity is to be the provider of choice for our customers and communities. During the last year around 2 billion people relied on us to get to work, to education, to visit family and friends and much more and, each day, every one of our 100,000 employees works hard to delivery vitally important services to our passengers. 1.4 FG has five operating divisions: ▪ First Rail is the largest provider of passenger rail services in the UK operating around a quarter of the market. ▪ First Bus is one of the largest providers of bus services operating around one fifth of all local buses in a primarily deregulated market. ▪ First Student is the largest provider of student transport in North America. ▪ First Transit is one of the largest private sector providers of public transit management and contracting in North America. ▪ Greyhound is the only national provider of scheduled intercity coach transportation services in North America. 1.5 First Rail operates passenger rail services throughout the UK. Our passenger operations include regional, intercity and commuter services - Great Western Railway (GWR), South Western Railway (SWR), First TransPennine Express (FTPE) and Avanti West Coast (AWC). Our non- franchise open access operations include Hull Trains and from 2021 East Coast Trains. 1.6 South Western Railway (SWR) South Western Railway is a joint venture between FirstGroup and MTR Europe, two of the world’s leading train companies. With about 235 million passenger journeys a year, the South Western franchise covers urban, suburban, regional and long-distance routes between London Waterloo and south western England, including Bristol, Exeter and Portsmouth. South Western Railway has some of the busiest routes in the country, operating nearly 1,700 services each weekday. 2 Commercial in Confidence 1.7 TransPennine Express (TPE) TransPennine Express has been operating as a franchise since 2004, firstly as a joint venture between FirstGroup and Keolis until 2016, and now solely managed by FirstGroup until 2023. With train services spanning the north of England and into the key Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, TransPennine Express operates in a highly competitive marketplace. Travel in the north of England is a highly contestable market as we operate alongside Virgin (East and West coast), Northern and Cross Country, coach operators and low-cost airlines between Scotland and Manchester. TransPennine Express has experienced industry leading growth over the last 15 years, which has been supported by a successful brand and marketing strategy. Since the launch of the new brand in 2016, TransPennine Express has been successfully positioning itself as supporting growth in the region as we promote our £500m investment plans to transform our services of the future. 1.8 Great Western Rail (GWR) GWR provides high speed, commuter, regional and branch line train services, carrying more than 103 million passengers every year across the Great Western rail franchise area, which includes South Wales, the West Country, the Cotswolds, and large parts of Southern England. We are running the franchise until at least March 2023, bringing our experience of managing the network over many years to ensure the successful delivery of the major programme of infrastructure upgrades on the network. The £7.5bn Great Western Mainline modernisation programme is the biggest investment on the network since Brunel. In the past two years, we have introduced new or refurbished trains on every part of the network meaning additional and more frequent services, reduced journey times and more seats, particularly on key commuter routes. 1.9 Avanti West Coast (AWC) Serving as part of our joint venture with TrenItalia and known as the West Coast Partnership, runs the current intercity services on the West Coast Main Line. A vital economic artery, bringing cities and people closer together, Avanti West Coast links London to cities and towns across England, North Wales and Scotland. Together with Trenitalia, we're working in partnership with Stakeholders, communities and customers along the route to develop and enhance rail services and help stimulate economic growth. The new partnership will build on the existing success and culture of the previous operator by bringing together the best parts of both Virgin Trains and First Trenitalia. Our goal is to deliver a progressive railway service that generates nationwide prosperity and pride. The partnership also includes ‘West Coast Partnership Development’ (known during the bidding phase as the ‘Shadow Operator’), which is preparing for a new era in high speed rail. 3 Commercial in Confidence 1.10 East Coast Trains Limited (ECTL) In Autumn 2021, the East Coast Open Access project (ECOA) will introduce a brand-new open access service between London and Edinburgh, which will include a ‘big reveal’ and a new brand name. East Coast Trains Limited (ECTL) is an Open Access train company who will be providing regular, cost effective 100% electric train travel as an alternative to flying that is a lower cost, kinder to the environment and just as time effective as taking a domestic flight. ECTL intends to create a service that is digital in both internal operation and in customer experience so far as is possible, using a team of dedicated like-minded people & partners, working together in a very different way to other Train Operating Companies (TOCs). This is more than introducing a rail service, it is an opportunity to change & update many of the historic practices within the railway industry and adopt new technology in order drive the highest levels of customer satisfaction and colleague engagement. 1.11 First Bus Across the UK First Bus operates in a huge number of communities, including 40 of the country’s largest towns and cities. Cities and towns include Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, York, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, Swansea, Portsmouth, Southampton, Stoke, Leicester, Bristol, Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Plymouth, Taunton and many other cities, towns and villages. Each day our buses cover 650,000 miles and we sell 37,500 Mtickets. First Bus employs around 17,500 staff with some 13,450 drivers. In the last six years, we’ve invested £455 million in some 2,500 new vehicles. All the new buses are fitted with free Wi-Fi for customers, leather seats and extra space for wheelchairs and buggies. 2. Requirements Overview This requirement is for First Greater Western (GWR) 2.1 “The Opportunity” GWR (the Client) is seeking to procure, install and maintain circa. 70+ ITSO (Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation) accredited, cEMV certified and barcode ticketing capable Platform Validator for its network. Commencing the procurement with the Cornwall region these devices will need to be installed by mid-late 2022, GWR will create a call off arrangement to purchase further devices as required, for the rest of its stations that require these devices and don’t currently have them. This project is part of a wider suite of IT related improvement projects across our networks that will ensure systems are bettered for the purpose of ongoing professional development, customer services, security and public safety. GWR is looking for supply partners that can provide devices that have a proven track record on the National Rail network and are: • robust and cost effective and capable of integrating with GWR’s existing ITSO and barcode ticketing schemes; • able to connect to GWR’s ITSO HOPS provided by Rail Delivery Group’s (RDG) Central Back Office (CBO) and GWR’s electronic Ticket Validation Database (eTVD) for barcode tickets; • able to operate with fixed line and 4G data communication; 4 Commercial in Confidence • capable of being installed in the ground or affixing on a wall; • providing an intuitive user interface that is compliant with Equalities Act 2010; and • able to validate a full set of Rail Settlement Plan (RSP) ticketing products on both ITSO and barcode including all restriction and routing guide rules (incl. Break of Journey) (PVAL) solutions procured will be required to a meet a detailed specification that has been agreed with Train Operating Company (TOC) stakeholders and will be shared during the Procurement process (stage 2). Currently the TOC uses PVAL technology across the network and this tender will be an expansion of current capability. Subject to statutory approval, we have identified an initial requirement to procure solutions for circa. 70+ ITSO (Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation) accredited, cEMV certified and barcode ticketing capable Platform Validator for its network. It is anticipated that this quantity will be completed as part of a programme of works for fulfilment by mid 2022, the successful bidder may be required to fulfil more or less than the stated requirement. 3. Selection Selecting the right partner is of key importance to The Client. In support of this, the Client shall be undertaking a two-stage tender award strategy as follows: 3.1 Down Selection (Stage 1) – Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) This Down Selection is the first stage in the Customer’s selection and award process. The PQQ is to be completed by all Applicants that wish to be considered for this opportunity the results of which will be used to progress successful Applicants to the ITT stage 3.2 Tender Process (Stage 2) – ITT Successful Applicants will be required to respond to both a technical requirement tender in addition to providing pricing for solutions proposed. Applications will be evaluated according to the FirstGroup evaluation model which will be released as part of the tender.