Provision of Interim Rural Transport Services

Concepts

• road transport
• bedford
• rural bus transport
• interim rural transport services
• an interim contract
• transport
• rural
• bedford borough council
• peppercorn park
• 4 existing bus routes

Location

Bedford Town and surrounding villages

Description

Bedford Borough Council is implementing an interim contract in respect of rural bus transport, from 1 August 2024 until 31 March 2025.

Total Quantity or Scope

The contracted bus operator will deliver 4 existing bus routes (Bedford - Peppercorn Park, Bedford - Rushden, Bedford - Ravensden, and Bedford - Pertenhall) for a period of 8 months.

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 60112000 - Public road transport services

Indicators

• Award on basis of price and quality.

Legal Justification

This contract has been awarded for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority, under Regulation 32 (2)(c) of Public Contract Regulation 2015. It had been anticipated that the current contract would be extended for a short eight month period commencing 1st August 2024, to allow for a new contract to commence April 2025. It has not been possible to procure a new contract, which is dependent on a network redesign, to commence in August 2024 due to the authority's obligations under the terms of its Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) grant funding which cease in the new financial year 2025/26. However, the current operator has now deregistered the services, meaning in order to continue to deliver our rural transport service for residents they must be performed by a different operator after 31 July 2024. The authority believes that the timescales of this, in combination with the timescales of registration of a new operator with the Traffic Commissioners, preclude a tender exercise and having satisfied itself that only one commercial operator other than the incumbent is capable of fulfilling the service, wishes to award a contract to Cambus Ltd t/a Stagecoach East.