Time, money, quality, efficiency and effectiveness are some of the factors that influence buying decisions for both individuals and organizations, and local authorities are no different. Five UK councils have formed a partnership to help make better use of their traffic control budgets.
Faced with making their funding work better, five east of England authorities have joined forces to produce a single tender for their traffic management requirements in order to maximize productivity and minimize effort. The five organizations, Cambridgeshire County Council, Peterborough City Council, Luton Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council, and Bedford Borough Council, have worked together to produce a single tender for their combined traffic signal needs.
Previously, the smallest individual contract covered a total of 86 traffic signals, including those deployed at both junctions and pedestrian crossings, and the largest contract covered 362 units. The new tender sought to produce a single framework agreement to cover the whole area, with a single contract that covers a combined total of 825 traffic lights across the region.
With one price, the five contracts are in effect a single offering. The partnership has awarded the new single contract to Dynniq (formerly Imtech Traffic & Infra), which includes the Peek Traffic range of traffic control equipment. Although the five authorities are geographically connected, it does not follow that the services provider operates a similar territory. In this case the five local authorities span two of Dynniq’s operational areas, namely the South and the Midlands.
By creating a single tender, all associated and fixed costs, including people, procurement, and central business support, are shared between the five councils. The scope of the contract includes all equipment maintenance services over the normal working day with 24-hour emergency cover, technology and equipment supply, and all installation activities. The contract is scheduled to begin in September 2016 and will run for five years, with a three-year extension against tightly managed key performance targets.
Richard Ling, signals and systems manager at Cambridgeshire County Council, said, “All of the five local authorities in the framework are looking forward to working with Dynniq on this exciting new project. In having just one contractor to deliver both the maintenance and installation service, we have reduced costs and improved efficiency.”
