Contract for the supply of a bus communications and information system and related services

Concepts

• information technology
• lbsl
• supply of a bus communications
• network system
• information system
• bus communication system
• ibus services
• ibus2 services
• database systems
• information systems

Location

LONDON

Description

In 2005 LBSL (a subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL)) awarded a 10-year contract to Siemens for the bus communication system known as iBus (the Contract). The Contract was novated to Trapeze in October 2009, when Trapeze purchased the relevant business. In 2015, the parties agreed to extend the Contract from May 2015 for up to 7 years, such that it would terminate in May 2022. TfL is competitively procuring the next generation system, iBus2, under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR). The iBus2 procurement comprises two lots: the on-bus systems and the back-office systems (Trapeze currently provides the equivalent of both of these services under the Contract). TfL initially expected the iBus2 procurement to be completed before 2022. However, the iBus2 procurement has taken longer than foreseen and is still ongoing. Consequently, LBSL wishes to extend the Contract term on an interim basis so that Trapeze can continue to provide the iBus services while the procurement of, and transition to, iBus2 services is completed. As a first step, on 27 April 2022, TfL and Trapeze entered into an agreement to extend the Contract for a period of eight weeks from 4 May 2022, expiring on 30 June 2022 ("the Short-term Extension"). The purpose of the Short-term Extension is to continue the Contract while LBSL and TfL consider the terms of a Medium-term Extension offered by Trapeze to LBSL (see below). This modification notice relates to that Short-term Extension. As a second step, LBSL and Trapeze expect to enter into a further agreement which will extend the Contract for up to a further 5 years (an initial term that takes the duration of the Short-term extension plus the further extension to a total of 3 years, plus options for two additional one-year extensions) until May 2027 ("the Medium-term Extension") in order to allow for completion of the iBus2 procurement and an orderly and low-risk transition to the resulting new arrangements. The proposed commercial terms for that extension have recently been agreed with Trapeze and reflected in a binding offer by Trapeze capable of acceptance by LBSL during a limited period. The parties will enter into the Medium-term Extension if and when LBSL's acceptance of Trapeze's offer is approved following associated LBSL and TfL governance activities. As explained at section VII.2 below, LBSL considers that both the Short-term Extension and the Medium-term Extension benefit from the exemption for "additional services" that is laid down in Regulation 72(1)(b) of the PCR. This exemption allows for the non-competitive procurement of additional services that have become necessary, where a change of contractor cannot be made for economic or technical reasons and where such a change would cause significant inconvenience or duplication of costs.

Ammendments to Previous Notice

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
• 32427000 - Network system
• 34923000 - Road traffic-control equipment
• 34970000 - Traffic-monitoring equipment
• 44316400 - Hardware
• 48610000 - Database systems
• 48800000 - Information systems and servers
• 51611100 - Hardware installation services
• 63712000 - Support services for road transport
• 72230000 - Custom software development services
• 72240000 - Systems analysis and programming services
• 72250000 - System and support services
• 72260000 - Software-related services
• 72310000 - Data-processing services
• 72320000 - Database services
• 72400000 - Internet services

Indicators

• Contract modified due to additional needs.

Legal Justification

Given the complexity of the iBus system and number of buses in service in London, it is not viable for TfL or LBSL to bring in a different contractor on a short/medium-term basis in a way that safeguards the continued operation of LBSL's iBus (and wider bus) services, pending completion of the iBus2 procurement. LBSL has concerns relating to the interoperability of any new on-bus/back office solution and the 'turnkey' Trapeze solution, i.e. the required interface may not be viable, such that the iBus2 procurement would still need to be for the whole of the current iBus2 scope and therefore any interim solution might need to be transitioned to a replacement iBus2 solution. This would leave LBSL bearing high capex costs for the interim solution which would not otherwise be incurred by LBSL if it were to proceed with the Extension and then transition to the end-to-end iBus2 solution. Thus the cost of bringing in a different contractor on a short or medium-term basis would be prohibitive.