Plymouth Mobility Hubs

Plymouth City Council ("The Council") aims to deliver a network of Mobility Hubs across Plymouth by March 2023. These Hubs will comprise of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, an e-car club, e-bikes and digital information boards.

A Mobility as a Service (MaaS) platform and app will be created to enable travel planning and to integrate the components of the Mobility Hubs project. The size of the Hubs will vary according to the need at each location and in total will consist of around 300 electric vehicle charging points, and will support approximately 400 e-bikes.

The Council is keen to gain up-to-date insight from the market and is therefore conducting early market engagement to explore business, technological and innovative solutions that are available. In addition, this will allow The Council to gauge the level of market interest, and on what terms solutions can be delivered.

Additional information: It is envisaged that new contracts will include but not be limited to, provision of Mobility Hub infrastructure, e-bikes, an EV car club, a MaaS app, including design, installation, supply, deliver and maintenance. The estimated date of publication of the Mobility Hubs procurement notice(s) is summer 2021.

The procurement route and procedures are still to be decided. Market engagement sessions will be held during the afternoon of Tuesday 2nd March 2021 and throughout Wednesday 3rd March 2021.

This will provide an opportunity for organisations to gain an insight into the initiative and provide feedback that will enable The Council to refine its approach. It is envisaged that a further Market Engagement Day will then be held in May 2021 at which the refined procurement approach will be explained and potential bidders can engage with The Council's legal, procurement and technical teams.

Note that the "Estimated total value" of £6 million is indicative and reflects the funding that The Council currently expects to be available. It does not include revenue generated from operation of the service, which may be reinvested into the contract, and it does not include future funding that may become available.

The Council expects to provide an updated "Estimated total value" when it publishes the contract notice. The Council will take into consideration the information gathered from the market engagement to decide whether or not a service concession structure will provide better value for the community.

The Council is considering what duration is necessary to best achieve its objectives in light of bidder feedback during early market engagement; it anticipates that the contracts will be for at least 5 years, depending on the model selected. The Council will also consider whether to split its requirements into lots or to award a contract to a single provider or consortium.

If you are interested in assisting with The Council's market assessment, then please register your interest via https://www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk Project reference DN524692. A link to the Market Engagement sessions on 2nd and 3rd March 2021 will be provided via the Portal by Friday 26th February 2021.

We request that a maximum of three participants per company attend the meetings. The Council reserves the right to limit the number of potential providers invited to these engagement sessions.

However, this does not mean that potential providers not invited to attend such a meeting will be excluded from the procurement at that stage. A Soft Market Test Questionnaire will also be provided via the Portal by Friday 26th February 2021.

Please return it electronically, via the Portal, by 12:00 noon on Friday 19th March 2021. Any further information surrounding this soft market assessment including any information on the soft market engagement sessions and The Council's aims, objectives and priorities will be made available to all registered parties via https://www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk, Project reference DN524692.

This Notice is an indication of potential future procurement activity only and is subject to change. This Notice, Prior Information Notice (PIN), Soft Market Test Questionnaire and any subsequent market engagement sessions form no part of any pre-qualification or selection process and imply no commercial commitment by The Council.

The Council reserves the right to seek further information from some or all of the economic operators that respond to the Soft Market Test Questionnaire or participate in the Market Engagement sessions. Additional procurement notices may be issued as appropriate, for specific procurement activities relating to Plymouth Mobility Hubs.