South of Scotland Electric Vehicle Charging Delivery Partner

A regional collaboration of Scottish local authorities wish to alert Chargepoint Operators (CPOs) to an anticipated tender exercise for an electric vehicle charging network across a large geographical region. The authorities are City of Edinburgh Council (lead authority), Dumfries and Galloway Council, West Lothian Council, Midlothian Council, Scottish Borders Council, Clackmannanshire Council, Fife Council and Falkirk Council.

The envisaged procurement will entail a concession contract which assumes responsibility for the existing public charging estate across the region of approximately 600 chargepoints. This will include migration of these assets from the Chargeplace Scotland network onto a new back office supplied by the CPO. Further to this, support has been secured through EVIF to support the expansion of the network by approximately 1800 additional chargepoints by 2030.

It is expected that a tender will be released in Spring 2025. The contract will be based on the draft concession terms developed by Scottish Futures Trust and SFT’s associated “Top Ten Commercial Considerations for Local Authorities for EV Infrastructure Service Contracts”, both of which are available on SFT’s website. The technical schedules and a KPI framework will be based on the guidance developed for the LEVI programme in England.

The contract is expected to be for a single CPO who can provide a mix of charging solutions and capacities across the region with an expectation the majority by number will be long dwell time AC charging. There is likely to be provision of the ability to use back office software to facilitate fleet charging.

Key areas of priority for the South of Scotland region will be the ability to migrate existing assets at pace and to support and manage a realistic expansion plan that supports a Just Transition particularly in rural areas and areas where standalone private investment is unlikely. It is anticipated that the CPO will need to mobilise over GBP20m of private capital alongside grant funding from Transport Scotland.

This is expected to be a long term contract where the CPO will work in partnership with the regional group to develop a network in line with the priorities of the EVIF programme and the authorities desire to help enable a comprehensive network across the council areas that complements standalone private investment delivered by CPOs out with the scope of this initiative. To this end innovative approaches are sought which may include consortium or sub contracting arrangements that can deliver a range of charging options that can address local circumstances (for example World Heritage Sites, poor grid/communications connections, areas of low utilisation, areas of multiple deprivation) with a view to facilitating a charging network that best addresses a wide range of user needs.

The purpose of this Prior Information Notice is to allow interested parties to note interest and to be kept updated around progress and to make inquiries should further clarification be required at this pre tender stage.

To help provide further background supporting information has been attached. Please note that this information is indicative to guide decision making and not intended to be contractual and may be updated or withdrawn at any time.

The envisaged chargepoints are intended to aid prospective tenderers to identify prospective sites but are not intended to be mandated. Within the tender process there will be an opportunity to provide a proposal around suitable sites to meet the desired outcomes set by Local Authority partners.

Prior to commencing procurement we welcome feedback from CPOs on any aspect of this proposal.