Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure & Associated Services - LEVI Fund Portsmouth Partner Operator Concession Agreement

Portsmouth City Council - the 'Council' - is undertaking a further stage of preliminary market engagement (PME) to inform the development of its approach for the delivery of 'Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure' (LEVI) funded electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. The Council is seeking to gain valuable market input through engagement with appropriately experienced & qualified EV charging infrastructure operators via a series of 1-1 on-line TEAMS meetings between the 14th - 21st November 2025.

Further details on the booking process, deadlines, project team, meeting format, agenda discussion points, documentation, etc. are included within the PME brief document which is accessible via the Council's e-sourcing solution In-tend. The LEVI Fund has the following key objectives: • Deliver a step-change in the deployment of local, primarily low power, on-street charging infrastructure across England • Accelerate the commercialisation of, and investment in, the local charging infrastructure sector The Councils own Portsmouth 'Electric Vehicle Infrastructure' (EVI) strategy has the following key objectives: • Prioritise electric vehicle infrastructure for residents, enabling conversion to electric vehicles • Transform charging infrastructure provision in Portsmouth to promote it as an EV friendly destination for those visiting and working here • Working with fleet operators to support conversion to EV, including provision of infrastructure where required • Work in partnership to support shared and public modes conversion to EV.

The Council has secured £3,682,000 LEVI funding, £3.5M of which will be used to part fund the delivery of EV chargepoints. The successful operator will be expected to secure and deploy the majority of capital funding required, in line with the LEVI objectives for commercialisation, leveraging private investment and enabling cross-subsidisation.

The LEVI funding cannot be utilised for the on-going operation, maintenance and end of contract decommissioning of the infrastructure which will have to be met by the operator. Since the first PME process undertaken earlier this year over May - June (PME Notice: 2025/S 000-014127), the Council has undertaken further long-term demand analysis and infrastructure requirements modelling.

As a result of this the Council is now considering altering its approach for EV infrastructure delivery in relation to chargepoint numbers, technologies, output, locations and customer access but is seeking to gain the views of the market before making any formal decisions. The Council will use the market feedback gained from this PME process to finalise its approach.

Approval will then be sought from the Council's Cabinet Member for Transport at the public meeting scheduled for 5th February 2026 to proceed to submission of the final business case and documentation to the funder, being the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV). In line with LEVI fund objectives and the Council's objectives, most of the on-street charge points should primarily be low powered between 7kW and 22kW and for the use of residents.

The Council is targeting to have appointed the successful partner operator by September 2026 who will then be required to work in partnership with the council to install an agreed minimum number of chargepoints / sockets by a target date of 2031 on a phased basis. In respect of a minimum number of chargepoints to be delivered over a 5-year phased programme, the Council is considering reducing the target from the 3,600 pre-dominantly single-socket lower powered (3-5kW) lamp post column chargers stated in the previous PME process to a lower number of higher powered (7-22kW) dual-socket standalone chargepoints.

This potential change in approach has been informed by revised CENEX and NEVIS v6 modelling to project the number of on-street residential EV charging sockets that are likely to be required to meet projected demand by 2050. The Council has also considered the increased flexibility that standalone chargepoints can offer for uptake of future technology driven upgrades when compared to lamp post column chargepoints which may be constrained by existing infrastructure.

The Council is also investigating on-going operational performance and ease of maintenance benefits that stand alone units may offer. Following funder approval, the Council will then undertake an openly advertised procurement process to appoint a partner operator for the supply, installation, maintenance, operation and decommissioning of electrical vehicle chargepoints on a mutually incentivised commercial concession basis.

Dependent upon funder review timescales, the Council is targeting commencing the procurement process via publication of a Tender Notice in April 2026 with contract award subsequently targeted for August 2026 and contract commencement following in September 2026. It is not envisaged that a list of pre-defined sites will be released as part of the tender pack for the future procurement.

The operator will be responsible for proposing, surveying and designing sites for chargepoint installations which will primarily meet the needs of residents without off-street parking or the ability to install a private home chargepoint, using their own analytical tools and methodologies. Following award, the chargepoint distribution, locations, access and phasing approaches put forward at tender will be developed and finalised in collaboration with the Council.

Each phase will be subject to a series of milestone gateway checks including for seeking formal approval to proceed from the Programme Board and Cabinet Member for Transport. The successful operator will be responsible for the design, installation (inc. civils works), operation, maintenance and end of term demobilisation & removal of the chargepoint network.

The operator will be responsible for all installation works and costs, including any fees payable to the Distribution Network Operator (DNO), costs of obtaining necessary temporary and permanent licenses, consents, and Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) and appropriate parking bay marking & signing. It will be the responsibility of the operator to work in partnership with the Council to comply with the Council's internal approval process, prior to installations.

The operator will be granted a concessions contract and associated section 50 licence (or permit for Statutory Undertakers) for on-street locations, or associated lease for off-street locations. The contract will commence in September 2026 and will run for a period of 15 years, extendable by a further year if required to enable effective demobilisation.

The contract will be let using flexible open book commercial concession terms prepared by the Council's Legal Advisors Browne Jacobson. The council will release funding to the operator incrementally in arrears based upon evidence of successful commission of charge points.

The council forecasts that the turnover income that could be generated by the successful operator over the term of the contract could equate on average to £1,800,000 per annum. Over the contract period of 15 years this could equate to £26,590,000.

This includes potential income from the rapid/ultra rapid charge points. The above figures, assumptions and associated demand projections will be tested as part of this preliminary market engagement process.

Whilst the Council is not seeking to make a direct profit from the operation of the chargepoint infrastructure, the operator will be required to provide an income stream to the Council which will be used by the Council to cover its own running costs. This will take the form of a guaranteed management fee which may be profiled plus a gain share mechanism.

The contract will be subject to open book reporting and will require the operator to provide information at regular frequencies and upon request on sales revenues, costs incurred, and profits generated. The cost of charging an electric vehicle for residents, visitors and others should be affordable.

Operators will be required to provide details of the tariff, or range of tariffs, that they would implement when the chargepoints are first commissioned as part of their proposed financial model. The Council is considering including for a pence per kilowatt hour (p/kWh) margin cap with operators having the ability to set a cap in their tender response.

It is envisaged that the cap would increase annually in line with inflation (CPI). The operator will be able to apply to the Council to adjust the tariff periodically, ideally no more than twice per year at April and October.

Any adjustments would need at least 2 months notice to allow for internal review processes and communication to network users. For the future procurement process, the Council envisages utilising an 'Open Procedure' procurement strategy in accordance with the requirements of Section 20 of the Procurement Act 2023. The Council's position is that the contract falls under the definition of a Concession Contract as set out within Section 8 of the Procurement Act 2023.