Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2019-05-21
Buyer: Highways England
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 32234000 | 32500000 | 34927000 | 34970000 | 34980000
Estimated value: 90000000 GBP

Technical requirements: Highways England is preparing for the procurement of a free-flow charging solution for commencement of live service between 2021 and 2024 which is primarily driven by the Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing existing road user charging scheme, and potentially any future road user charging schemes (e.g. Lower Thames Crossing).
One proposed element of the free-flow charging solution is road user charging services (Package A), which comprises of vehicle identification, account management, payment processing, and associated customer services, which is the subject of this prior information notice (PIN). Highways England wishes to consult with the market regarding the proposed approach for this package.
The other proposed elements of the free-flow charging solution are UK Enforcement Services (Package B) and Non-UK Enforcement Services (Package C). Package B and C are subject to a separate PIN, and the current intention is to procure them under separate procurement exercises.
Inputs from the initial market engagement (referenced in PIN 18276-2018, located at https://ted.europa.eu/TED/notice/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:018276-2018:TEXT:EN:HTML) were used to inform the commercial and procurement strategy for the free-flow charging solution. The commercial and procurement strategy proposes sourcing the following contract packages through a call for competition:
— Package A: road user charging services. To detect vehicles and create validated vehicle passage records, match vehicle passage records against payments or the exempt vehicle list, process road user charge payments, and manage accounts. This was identified as Package 1 and Package 2 in the initial market engagement, and includes the website and merchant acquirer services,
— Package B: UK Enforcement Services. To manage enforcement activities for vehicles registered in the UK including penalty charge notice payment processing. This was identified as Package 3 in the initial market engagement, and includes the website and merchant acquirer services,
— Package C: Non-UK Enforcement Services. To manage enforcement activities for vehicles registered outside of the UK including penalty charge notice payment processing. This was identified as Package 4 in the initial market engagement, and includes the website and merchant acquirer services.
It is proposed that the following standalone capabilities required for the free-flow charging solution will utilise existing contracts and frameworks (i.e. not a call for competition) and are therefore outside the scope of this (or any subsequent) market engagement:
Highways England is in the process of producing procurement documents for Package A and wishes to discuss these with the market and receive their feedback. To support this, suppliers will have the opportunity to attend a market engagement event. Suppliers can register for the market engagement event by following the instructions in Section II.2.14).
To support the market engagement, Highways England have created a Trello board for sharing documentation, which can be accessed at https://trello.com/b/xaTYWhJx
A sub-set of the Package A procurement documents explaining the key commercial principles for this procurement (including the terms and conditions, requirements, payment mechanism, and performance management regime) and a questionnaire will be published on the Trello board on Wednesday 5.6.2019, therefore suppliers will have one week to familiarise themselves with the procurement documents prior to the market engagement event. It is encouraged that suppliers do this to ensure productive discussions during the market engagement event about the procurement documents.
Following the market engagement event, suppliers will be given until Friday 28.6.2019 to answer a questionnaire which will seek feedback on the sub-set of the Package A procurement documents. Highways England will then review the questionnaire responses and may amend the procurement documents in line with market feedback and in accordance with Highways England’s obligations under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
Suppliers should note that any procurement that may be launched following this PIN, and any resulting contract that may be awarded, may be in the name of Highways England on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport or in the name of the Secretary of State for Transport.
Suppliers who wish to attend the market engagement event on Wednesday 12.6.2019 can register by visiting the following link (https://tinyurl.com/yxldfh87) and completing the form by the deadline of 5:00 p.m. on Friday 7.6.2019. Attendance is strictly restricted to 1 attendee per organisation.
This PIN is provided solely for the purposes of obtaining feedback from interested suppliers on the potential commercial opportunities to provide Package A.


Award value: 90000000