Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2019-03-19
Buyer: The City of Edinburgh Council
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
CPV classification: 33157400 | 33199000 | 34990000 | 35113000: Safety equipment | 35113400

Technical requirements: Driver Innovation Safety Challenge (DISC) aims to support the development and delivery of a solution to identify and alert when a driver or operator is at risk of losing focus or consciousness when in charge of a vehicle or machinery. If a risk is detected, the solution is expected to alert the control room through a green/amber/red alert system. The DISC project (Driver Innovation Safety Challenge (DISC) is an innovation partnership procurement offering up to 168 000 GBP of funding for R&D and test over a project life of up to 18 months which, if successful, may award a framework contract of up to 3 years with Edinburgh Trams through Edinburgh City Council.
As part of a range of actions to reinforce even further the safety measures implemented across UK tram networks, the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) and Edinburgh Trams aim to implement measures to reduce and mitigate the likelihood of fatigue and health related incidents such as the Glasgow bin lorry and Sandilands Junction tram crash.
Emergency braking systems are installed in all UK trams. If a driver loses consciousness, the tram will automatically stop. Through DISC, UK tram networks intend to be not only reactive, but pre-emptive.
Bidders to DISC are expected to develop a fully integrated solution able to identify, as close to real-time as possible, the early symptoms of loss of focus, consciousness/alertness/paralysis or similar due to:
— fatigue levels: the bidders are expected to have a solution able to detect both micro sleeps, early signs of sleep, and a decline in levels of alertness,
— common conditions: DISC is not prescriptive regarding the range of acute and/or chronic illnesses monitored which may lead to a reduction in the ability of the operator to manage the tram safely.
The DISC solution is not required to be a medical grade device and is not expected to lead to a diagnosis, but instead alert the control room if the driver has a reduced capability to operate the tram safely. Bidders are expected to develop a green/amber/red alert scoring methodology reflecting the risk.
If a sufficiently “high risk” profile or incident is detected, it is anticipated that an appropriate message/alarm will be displayed both to the driver and to the Tram control room, making the control team aware in real time of risks to passengers (citizens) from changes in the drivers’ ability to operate the tram safely, and allowing for a timely intervention to be taken. Tram service management must be able to extract and report the fatigue and health data collected by the device, underlying the alert system, to share as appropriate with medical staff.
A preliminary market analysis in 2018 indicated that no solution is currently available in the market integrating both the health and fatigue data-analytics facets into a consolidated system.
Edinburgh Trams and the CEC acknowledge that bidders will need to carry out R&D to meet this core requirement.
To support the bidders, companies selected to be part of the challenge may receive up to 168 000 GBP in Can Do Innovation Challenge Funding for R&D and testing.
Provided it meets the performance targets, the winner of the DISC will be awarded a single supplier Framework Agreement, and a call-off contract. Details of Authorities and organisations eligible to use the contract and estimates of spend will be contained in the Contract Notice.
Work is underway to ascertain Authorities interested in their eligibility to directly access the contract. These may include 5 potential tram networks including: Nottingham Express Transit, Blackpool Transport, Sheffield Supertram, Transport for Greater Manchester, and Edinburgh Trams. Dialogue with other Authorities who provide Public transportation systems such as Lothian buses are progressing.
Bidders may have up to 18 months to develop a fully operational, and integrated, solution; and demonstrate its performance through testing. Details of the technical requirements of the solution will be contained in the contract notice.
Organisations that believe they can solve the challenge and want to bid for the contract must include both elements in their bid — fatigue and health. If your organisation can produce a solution to either aspect of the challenge but cannot provide the entire solution, you are encouraged to develop a “partnership” prior to the competition.