Development Management, Road Safety and Active Travel Support Services Framework

Transport Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Ministers have identified the need for a framework (the current framework was let in 2019) that will support the Scottish Ministers to fulfil their duties under the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure)(Scotland) Regulations 2013, and their duties in relation to Development Planning and Management under Planning Circulars 6/2013: Development Planning and 3/2013: Development Management Procedures. The Development Management Team provides advice to developers and planning authorities on planning applications and development plan related issues where development may impact on the performance and safety of the Trunk Road network.

The main objective to be delivered by the Framework Contractors is audit and advisory support to Transport Scotland on all aspects of the development management processes and to offer more specific support to address road safety objectives as set out in the Scottish Government's Road Safety to 2030 Framework and the Strategic Road Safety Plan. This framework will promote a safe systems approach, by integrating development management and road safety services, and by providing specific advice and support for road safety policy and delivery.

The framework is to be expanded from its current scope to support active travel delivery on the Trunk Road Network, and to further support the Scottish Government's Sustainable Transport and Net Zero policy, as well as taking cognizance of the emerging National Planning Framework 4. The proposed framework will be in place for a period of 3 years with the possibility of a 1 year extension period.

The Scottish Government's Model Service Framework Agreement will be used to award the Framework, and Call Off Contracts will use the Scottish Government's Conditions of Contract. The Framework's Contractors will be procured in accordance with the Restricted procedure as stated in the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

Transport Scotland will manage the proposed procurement process on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. In the event of the Framework award, the Contract will be entered into between the Scottish Ministers and the successful Contractors.

Requirement: The scope of works will include, but not be limited to: - Provision of advice and support to the Trunk Road Casualty Reduction and Trunk Road Casualty Reduction Team/ Active Travel Delivery Team as required to support the delivery of the Scottish Government's Road Safety Framework to 2030, Transport Scotland's Strategic Road Safety Plan and wider Road Safety Policies - Provision of advice and support to the Development Management Team as required to assist and improve the delivery of the Development Management process and to promote innovation and best practice - Provision of advice and support to the Strategic Road Safety team to plan and deliver active travel measures on the Trunk Road Network - Conduct and audit area based Transport Studies where these are in support of Development Management, Road Safety and Active Travel outcomes - The auditing and reporting on submitted Transport Assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments relating to Section 36 applications - Preparation of specialist material and attending formal meetings as required, such as expert witness in Scottish Parliament Public Inquiries, in support of Development Management and Road Safety Services - Comment on, evaluate and undertake Road Safety Audits - Secondment to support the scope of works above. The intention of this competition is to procure five suitably experienced contractors.

Five contractors allows Transport Scotland to select contractors based on availability of the most technical skills and ability. In addition, this arrangement provides flexibility to cover situations where potential conflicts of interest or capacity issues may occur.

The services will be called off from the Framework Agreement on the basis of technical ability and capacity on a round robin, direct award, approach. In addition, the Employer will have the option to run mini-competitions irrespective of value.

The contractor will be procured through a competitive tender procedure, in accordance with the restricted procedure as stated in the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. This is a two stage procedure, comprising a prequalification stage and a tender stage.

Section II.2.9 of this Contract Notice describes the criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates. In order to be considered for the prequalification stage, economic operators are required to complete and submit a SPD, which can be downloaded via the Public Contracts Scotland site. It is anticipated that a total of 8 economic operators will be invited to tender stage.