Engagement process description
This notice is issued solely for the purpose of gathering market intelligence and does not constitute a call for competition or a commitment to a formal procurement process at this stage.
Through this early market engagement exercise, Transport for Wales Rail Limited the Contracting Authority seeks to:
1. Hold a series of Meet the Buyer market engagement events across Wales, to share its future vision with operators for future service provision of the planned change to in-house the co-ordination and management of the Rail Replacement Service.
2. Understand the level of operator market interest in supplying all emergency and pre-planned rail replacement services directly to TfW by participating in any future procurement opportunity.
3. Provide updates of its procurement process, timescales and current strategy.
4. Obtain information to help inform the specification e.g. duty allocation method, setting of appropriate service level KPI’s; pricing options and options for geographical zoning etc.
5. Obtain insight from operators of the challenges they face in delivering the service and provide suggestions as to how it may be improved
6. Understand any operator risks, including any associated risks and mitigations when providing this service.
7. Challenges Transport for Wales Rail Limited may not have considered.
TfW currently plan to hold 4 regional events and 1 virtual event as follows: Llandudno, Shrewsbury, Pontypridd and Carmarthen. Please be advised if registration to attend these events is low, then the event may be cancelled and operators encouraged to attend the virtual session.
TfW are being supported by Business Wales, who will manage the operator event registration process. How to register for these events will be posted on the Business Wales website (events page) in the coming days and may be found on the following links https://wales.business-events.org.uk/ or https://wales.business-events.org.uk/cy/
The events will be held between the 4th - 13th February, and subject to capacity, TfW may hold further 121 sessions if operators express an interest. All market engagement events will be concluded by the 27th February.
If there are any specific topics relating to the Rail Replacement Service you would like to see covered during these events, please email TFW.RRSOperators@tfwrail.wales
Please note the target audience for these events is operators of bus, coach and minibus etc. Rail Replacement services supported by Taxi operators is not part of the scope of this particular exercise.
All events will cover the same content, hence only one event need be attended per operator.