Purpose

The Authority is progressing the Bus Franchising Programme and is entering the evaluation phase of the Phase 1 Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) procurement process. Specialist procurement evaluation and moderation support is required to ensure a robust, transparent and compliant assessment of bidder submissions.
Approval is sought to engage specialist consultant support to provide independent evaluation and moderation services during the ITN stage. This support will assist in managing evaluation and moderation activities, ensuring consistency in scoring, maintaining auditability of decision-making and mitigating procurement and delivery risks.
 

Decision

It is approved to procure and engage specialist consultancy support to provide evaluation and moderation services for the Phase 1 ITN procurement process within the Bus Franchising Programme.
The consultants will provide independent expertise to support the evaluation of bidder submissions, coordinate and facilitate moderation sessions, ensure compliance with procurement requirements, maintain appropriate audit trails and support robust governance and decision-making throughout the procurement process.
This engagement will provide additional specialist capacity, reduce procurement risk and help ensure a fair, transparent and defensible evaluation process.

Cost: The value of this contract will be £152,000

The resources will be required for the following timescales:

Training Session – 08/09/26
Briefing Sessions – 09/09/26 – 16/09/26
Evaluation – 18/09/26 – 16/10/26
Moderation – 17/10/26 – 06/11/26

This will be a call off contract and SYMCA will be charged for work completed.

 

Alternative options considered

• Full time permanent position
• Fixed term position
• Specialist consultancy support