Your Invitation to Tender for the Community Minibus Fund Round Two Partnership

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1 Your Invitation to Tender for the Community Minibus Fund Round Two Partnership We d like to offer you the chance to work with the Community Transport Association (CTA) to help support the delivery of specialist minibuses to successful applicants through the Community Minibus Fund Round Two. The UK Government recognises that passenger transport is fundamental to the sustainability and independence of communities, particularly in isolated areas. It provides people with access to public services, employment, education and training. Inadequate transport provision can be a barrier to the prosperity of all those living in such areas. As such the Department for Transport (DfT) have invited a second round of bids for minibuses funded under the Community Minibus Fund. The appraisal of bids will favour organisations who support learning outside of a traditional classroom setting. The CTA have been charged with administering the new round of funding. The second round of the Community Minibus Fund will see 2 million made available for community transport providers to receive a new minibus. The purpose of the fund is to provide new minibuses to community transport providers across the UK. The first round of funding saw vehicles awarded to over 300 organisations. The CTA would like to commission a partnership in which we envisage the successful company will work closely with us to design a set number of vehicle specifications which successful applicants can pick from. The successful company will also arrange conversion and delivery of all the minibuses within one year.

2 1. Who are the Community Transport Association? The Community Transport Association is a registered charity and the national membership body for anyone, across the United Kingdom, who provides accessible and inclusive transport for those in their communities. We are for and about accessible and inclusive transport. Our vision is of a world where people can shape and create their own accessible and inclusive transport solutions, so that everything else in life can be accessible and inclusive too. At the Community Transport Association we are the leading authority on the practice and performance of community transport. We work to empower individuals and communities to design their own transport solutions from the ground up. Our days are spent working with people who all want the very best for their communities and see accessible and inclusive transport as part of the answer to the big questions of how we are to live, learn, participate and belong. We believe our members have a vital role to play in connecting communities, alleviating social isolation, empowering innovation and championing economic wellbeing. 2. What are we looking for? We re looking for a partner. Someone with whom we can work to produce the most appropriate vehicle specifications which meet the needs of the community transport sector and can deliver a high number of specially converted minibuses. We re looking for a company that can create a number of vehicle specifications to meet the needs of the community transport sector whilst delivering best value for money. - The successful company will create specialist vehicle specifications which the applicants of the Community Minibus Fund Round Two will be able to pick from. The choices will include; vehicle type, vehicle brand, seating capacity, configuration, specialist accessibility equipment and colour. We are looking for a company which can deliver approximately 40 minibuses (based on the created vehicle specifications) within a year of the successful applicants being awarded funding.

3 - As part of this relationship, and to ensure the fund is delivered on time and to budget we are looking for a company that would be willing to meet in our Manchester office when required. First and foremost, we are tendering for a partnership to work extremely closely with CTA. We need an applicant organisation with a proven capacity to produce minibuses and perform customisations either directly or through subcontractors, to deliver 40 vehicles between April 2017 and April The chosen applicant will also need to demonstrate the ability to realistically, robustly and reliably forecast delivery based on previous experience, an understanding of supply chains and the capacity of the sector and subcontractors. Managing the expectations of all customers will be necessary. 2.1 Timescales The following timeline for the Community Minibus Fund Round Two has been agreed with the Department for Transport: Key Dates Action 08 September 2016 Community Minibus Fund Round Two opens for applications 02 December 2016 Closing date for applications. W/C 16 January 2017 W/C 20 February 2017 March 2018 Letters of award to successful applicants, with vehicle specification selection sheet and how to promote their award. Deadline for vehicle specification selection All minibuses delivered to successful applicants 2.2 Funding Available Funding has been made available under the Community Minibus Fund Round Two to provide approximately 40 minibuses. Each of the successful applicants will receive a grant to purchase their own vehicle based on the pre-set vehicle specifications which our partner will have developed. Prior to CTA grant funding the successful applicants a full quote must be provided to the CTA and the applicant based on the chosen vehicle specification.

4 3. What do we need from you? We require a written statement which should clearly set out your experience in delivering a high volume of specialist minibus orders to the community transport sector. In your written response we require you to address each of the following points below: 1. You should explain your company s experience in selecting and tailoring the most appropriate minibuses for the community transport sector. 2. We will require a description of how your company has overcome obstacles and how you have managed expectations when difficult and avoidable circumstances have occurred. 3. How your company will use marketing/ social media to highlight the positive impact of the Community Minibus Fund? 4. How you will work with the CTA to produce a number of minibus specifications from which successful applicants of the community minibus fund will be able to pick from? 5. You should explain how your experience best places you within the industry to deliver a quality service which puts the customer first whilst allowing for best value. 6. Please also describe how you will engage and work with the CTA and community transport sector to deliver to the outlined timescales and if delays occur how you will mitigate against these. 7. Please provide a proposed timeline for delivery of the minibuses and evidence of how you can meet this including records of receiving vehicles from suppliers to agreed timescales. Evidence should also include an assessment of how much you currently subcontract and the methods and contractual terms you have in place to ensure that you receive vehicles from suppliers and subcontractors to agreed timescales. 8. We require you to submit an example vehicle specification and quote; you should state why you chosen the vehicle type, brand, configuration and accessibility options. The specification should suit the following type of organisation:

5 - An organisation which transports children to an out of school club where at least three of the passengers require wheelchair access. 9. Finally the statement should include a commitment to visit the CTA s Manchester offices once per month to discuss progress of the project, we will also require weekly updates against delivery schedules, 3.1 Evaluation The CTA will evaluate each of the criteria 1 8 by ranking all the responses received and awarding scores accordingly. The scoring range will 0 to 5 where 0 is poor and 5 is excellent will be allocated. A maximum score of 40 will be obtainable. The following matrix will be used to score each element of the statement: 0 Failed to address the question/issue 1 An unfavourable response/answer/solution. There is limited or poor evidence of skill/experience/solution sought; a high risk that relevant skills will not be available. Less than acceptable. The response/answer/solution/information lacks convincing evidence of 2 skill/experience/solution sought; lack of real understanding of requirement or evidence of ability to deliver; medium risk that relevant skills or requirement will not be available. 3 Acceptable response/answer/solution/information to the particular aspect of the requirement; evidence has been given of skill/experience/solution sought. Above acceptable response/answer/solution/information demonstrates real understanding 4 of the requirement and evidence of ability to meet it (based on good experience of the specific provision required or relevant experience of comparable service Excellent response/answer/solution provides real confidence based on experience of the 5 service or supply provision required. Response indicates that the supplier will add real value to the project with excellent skills and a deep understanding of the service or supply The CTA will select the company which meets the Specification Requirements (above) with the highest overall score. In addition to the scoring system above CTA will undertake all necessary due diligence on any applicant, particularly those who score very highly. This will be factored in to CTA s final decision on the successful bidder prior to award of the partnership.

6 3.2 Key Dates Please get in touch with Victoria Shortland to confirm your intention to tender by 14 October. We will take any questions you have on the tender process from 04 October - 14 October. Bids should be submitted to Vicky@ctauk.org by 17:00 on Friday 04 November Any tenders received after this date will be disregarded. Victoria Shortland Projects Manager Community Transport Association UK Aeroworks 5 Adair Street Manchester M1 2NQ ctauk.org ctablog.org