Agenda item

Local Bus Tendering - De Minimis Subsidy Award

Minutes:

Decisions:

 

That having had due regard to the Integrated Impact Assessment:

 

1.           Delegated Authority be given to Director of Environment and Regeneration and the Head of Engineering and Transport, to use the De Minimis arrangement to directly award passenger service commissions/contracts, in order to assist in the tendering of non-commercial bus routes in the County Borough from April 2024.

 

2.           It be agreed to exclude the requirements for competition contained within the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules, in accordance with Rule 5 therein, for such contracts awarded via De Minimis in accordance with the 2002 Regulations.

 

3.           It be agreed for the Head of Engineering and Transport to directly award De Minimis contracts to bus operators in order to protect socially necessary journeys, as and when funding allows and in accordance with the requirements of the 2002 Regulations.

 

Reasons for Decisions:

 

1.           To ensure that the Council has at its disposal tools that allows it to save as many local bus services as possible.

 

2.           To allow the Council to react quickly to replace existing local bus services that are withdrawn if funding allows.

 

3.           To assist with the tendering process by reducing the number of tenders/routes that need to be managed.

 

Implementation of Decisions:

 

The decisions will be implemented after the three day call in period.