Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2025-02-04
Buyer: Road Safety Authority (RSA)
Country: IE
Region: IE061
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 22454000 | 48218000 | 60000000 | 60100000 | 70332000
Estimated value: 638000000 EUR
Submission deadline: 2025-02-14

Technical requirements: The Road Safety Authority (Authority) is responsible for providing the Driver Theory Test Services (DTTS) in Ireland through which the Authority ensures that all potential drivers demonstrate essential knowledge of road rules, risk perception, hazard awareness and safe driving practices as part of the driver licensing process. 
The Authority is also responsible for providing the National Driver Licence Service (NDLS) in Ireland. NDLS is responsible for the provision of learner permits and driving licences in Ireland including issuance, renewals, category changes, replacement and exchange application for foreign licences.
The Authority intends to procure a supplier to provide DTTS and NDLS service. The Authority envisions a fully integrated DTTS and NDLS service under the new contract with this integrated service transformation underpinned by technology solutions that will integrate, streamline and improve access to online services with improved customer registration and service experience. This new contract will also include integrated customer support services. 
The supplier will be responsible for providing services for the delivery of all types of driver theory tests and driving licences and learner permits in Ireland. Under this integrated DTTS and NDLS service contract there will also be a requirement for a consolidated real estate network of Authority centres. Each centre will integrate both DTTS and NDLS service delivery, allowing them to operate from within a single, combined facility.
Interested parties should note that driving license and learner permit card production (also including the provision of tachograph cards and certificate of professional competency), subject to the services listed here, will remain a separate contract and be procured under a separate procurement process. A requirement of the services under the integrated DTT and NDLS contract will be the subsequent integration with this separate card production contract
The Road Safety Authority (Authority) is responsible for providing the Driver Theory Test Services (DTTS) in Ireland through which the Authority ensures that all potential drivers demonstrate essential knowledge of road rules, risk perception, hazard awareness and safe driving practices as part of the licensing process. The Authority is also responsible for providing the National Driver Licence Service (NDLS) in Ireland. NDLS is responsible for the provision of learner permits and driving licences in Ireland including issuance, renewals, category changes, replacement and exchange application for foreign licences.
The Authority intends to procure a supplier to provide DTTS and NDLS service under a new fully integrated contract with this integrated service transformation underpinned by a technology solution that aims to integrate, streamline and improve access to online services with an improved customer registration and application experience.  The supplier will be responsible for providing services for the delivery of all types of driver theory tests, driving licences and learner permits in Ireland. This new contract will also include integrated customer support services.
Under this integrated DTTS and NDLS service contract there is will be a requirement for a consolidated real estate network of Authority centres. Each centre will integrate both DTTS and NDLS service delivery, allowing them to operate from within a single, combined facility. The consolidation aims to create efficiencies, optimise resource utilisation, and enhance customer experience and convenience while ensuring that high standards of customer service quality are maintained. There is a requirement to have at least one centre in each county. These centres should be strategically located to ensure that 95% of the population resides within 50 km of an Authority centre. Furthermore, each centre must be within 0.5 km of a public transport link, facilitating accessibility for all customers. The real estate network should be designed and established to be flexible that can adjust to changes in future NDLS and DTTS service demand over the contract period. Currently, approximately 50% of applications are processed online, and this number is anticipated to grow as users switch to the online channel, reducing the volume of applications handled at physical locations over time. On the other hand for DTTS, the possibility of the introduction of hazard prediction and other driver education technology testing could increase footfall, while the possibility of the introduction of remote proctoring could lead to a decrease in footfall at Authority centres for DTTS customers. Hence the real estate network needs to be able to flex for these and any other future changes while ensuring it continues to meet required service levels. 
The Authority wishes to inform the market that it intends to commence the procurement of a contract to provide the combined DTTS and NDLS service in mid-February 2025, with the submission date being approximately five weeks following publishing of the Contract Notice. The process will be a competitive dialogue procedure with a pre-qualification questionnaire stage, followed by an invitation to participate in competitive dialogue to shortlisted candidates. The Authority intends to shortlist three candidates at the pre-qualification stage, however the Authority reserves the right to shortlist additional candidates. This will be confirmed in the procurement documentation published with the Contract Notice.
As part of the evaluation, among other requirements, interested candidates will be required to submit financial statements for each of the last two to three financial years (Note: to be confirmed in the procurement documentation published with the Contract Notice) for entities that are proposed as shareholders and if separate entities, the entities proposed to provide the DTTS services and the NDLS services. 
Interested candidates will be required to demonstrate through the submission of case studies how their experience can support the following or similar areas through the submission of case studies:
•	Design, development, implementation and operation of the following:
o	NDLS
o	DTTS
o	Customer Support Services
•	Transition of Services
•	Management of real estate network
Interested candidates will be required to submit case studies of where it has provided the above listed services in the seven years preceding the date of publication of the Contract Notice. 
The full financial and areas for demonstrating experience and the timeframes for these will be confirmed in the procurement documentation published with the Contract Notice.
Interested parties should note that card production of driving license and learner permits (also including the provision of tachograph cards and certificate of professional competency), subject to the services listed here, will be a procured by way of a separate procurement process.