Scotrail88
Member
- Joined
- 21 Jul 2014
- Messages
- 319
With the bids now submitted and the award looking like October, has there been any slips of what is contained within some of the bids and any rumours to who is taking the lead.
MTR want to run metro-style units every ten minutes on the West Highland Line
They've all quite correctly kept their plans for the use of 442s under wraps as well...
National Express are proposing a "Pacer Mark 2" programme, this time using coaches rather than buses
Pacers are specifically banned from being used by the next Scotrail franchisee due to the franchise requirement for properly boogied stock on all Scotrail routes.
why can't the scottish government make it state owned?
Is that to allow for on-board Ceilidhs?
Of all my "exclusive leaks" that was the only one that struck you as being unlikely?
All I heard today and over the last week is First will bag the east coast line. The main scotrail is still up in the air. Good commonwealth games and ryder cup will do no harm.
It gives them a slight advantage being the existing operator, as they can do the mobilisation quicker (since they understand the processes within the TOC and staff) and therefore requires less staff to manage it. However, the mobilisation costs only count for a tiny margin of the whole lifetime costs of the franchise.
In your bid plans, you have to show evidence supporting your initiatives and proof that your plans are creditable. Most operators would refer back to their own operations.
Finally, the bid plans are branded in the TOC colours....
Different consultants are also used to analyse different sections of the bid - very few people will have sight of the overall situation or the branding.
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Surely the meetings have commenced with the bidders and maybe once the Commonwealth Games has finished we will hear some more regarding the prospects that are being put forward by some of the operators.
The only competition I remember where the losing bidder did a public comparison of their proposals with the winner was Virgin after the WCML farce...However, the Department also regards commercial confidentiality as essential. It cannot secure the best deal for passengers and taxpayers unless it can operate a commercially confidential procurement process. The Department will not, therefore, release any information on unsuccessful bids, because doing so could result in lower VfM in subsequent franchising rounds. Nor will the Department release information which allows a comparison to be made between the winning bid and the second placed and other bids as this could have market consequences for the winning bidder. Access to bid information is very tightly restricted within the Department. Likewise, the Department insists that bidders do not discuss with anyone the details of their bid or their discussions with the Department.
http://webarchive.nationalarchives....franchises/procurementprocess/pdf/process.pdf
One of the previous East Coast franchise winners that collapsed did as well, cant remember which.
Its usually only a couple of weeks before the winner is announced when they enter final talks with one of the bidders and the talks with a reserve bidder fizzle out that details leak but when they do its a flood, Dft is like a sieve.
Dft has to sign off the Newcastle services and be consulted with for issues affecting cross border services according to the ITT.
Dft has to sign off the Newcastle services and be consulted with for issues affecting cross border services according to the ITT.