Cambridgeshire County Council Early Adoption of Low Emission Buses Voluntary ex ante Transparency (VEAT) Notice

Greater Cambridge Partnership has been exploring the early introduction a number of Low Emission Buses (LEB) operating in Cambridge to support an improvement in air quality in the city area. The proposal is to invest in the introduction of 2 buses (one full electric and one diesel hybrid-electric) and a charging station.

The hybrid vehicle will be used to test geofencing technology and to allow comparison with full electric and hybrid vehicle operations to inform and influence future investment in a low emission bus fleet. Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union in the cases listed below •The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive The project will work with stagecoach as a direct award, market testing and further notifications failed to achieve any market interest in supporting the project other than the local operator chosen.

The marketplace has been tested through a soft marketing exercise in late 2018 where interested parties where asked to consider working with GCP to invest in operating low emission buses on routes serving Cambridge City Centre. Only one operator response was received from stagecoach.

The market has been further tested early in early 2019 through publication of an intention to issue a VEAT notice to facilitate work with the local operator on the Contracts Finder website, giving a further opportunity for operators to show interest. No response to the notice was received.