Readybike Cycle Hire Scheme - Early Engagement

Reading Borough Council is seeking expressions of interest from suppliers that are able to continue delivering the town’s public cycle hire scheme – ReadyBike, under license. ReadyBike, which was launched in June 2014 as part of Reading’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund programme, is made up of 200 bicycles, across 30 docking stations and 355 docking points located at key destinations, including Reading Station, University of Reading, Royal Berkshire Hospital and Thames Valley Business Park.

The Contractor will be responsible for the continued operation and maintenance of the scheme utilising the existing cycle hire infrastructure. The Contractor is expected to ensure that the scheme is self-financing through revenue income or alternative funding sources without any financial support from the Council, such as but not limited to scheme sponsorship and advertising.

Contractors who believe they are capable of fulfilling these requirements should notify Reading Borough Council of their interest in writing. To register your interest, please provide a brief summary of your organisational experience and a proposal of how you intend to meet the Council’s requirements, including initial thoughts on how to make the scheme financially viable without financial support from the Council.

This will be in the form of no more than two sides of A4 and sent no later than 5pm on Friday 16th December 2016 using the In-Tend e-tendering system The Council intends to use the information supplied to assess whether suitable contractors exist to meet the Council’s requirements to provide a self-financing Cycle Hire scheme. If the Council decides there is sufficient interest from contractors it may decide to proceed with a procurement exercise through further advertisement to formally invite tenders.

The Council does not commit to enter into a formal procurement exercise at this stage. Additional information: Organisations interested in expressing an interest should download the documents which are available on the Council's e-tendering system at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/readingbc (Project Reference No. RBC 00000213 refers), and complete as instructed.

The Portal is free of charge - to register please follow the supplier registration guidance which is available on the Portal. The deadline for return of the tender is Friday 16th December 2016 at 17.00 hours.

Please note: you must register your interest via the Council's e-tendering portal if you intend to submit a tender. Interested parties must log onto the Council's e-tendering portal at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/readingbc, to express an interest and download the procurement documents.

All communications regarding this procurement exercise will be conducted through the Council's e-tendering portal including requests for clarifications or general enquiries. The procurement documents will be available for download up until the closing time and date for tender submissions, it is the organisation's responsibility to ensure that they download the documents in ample time to ensure that they can be completed and returned electronically, along with supporting documents, prior to the closing time and date stipulated.

Before completing the tender, potential providers/suppliers should ensure that the e-mail address that has been used to register their organisation will be checked regularly as the Council's e-tendering system will generate automatic notifications to this e-mail address when there are updates, changes or messages sent relating to the project. Potential bidders should also check that their organisation's details are correct and kept up to date.