AT A MEETING of the SOUTH HAMPSHIRE RAPID TRANSIT PROCUREMENT JOINT PANEL held at The Castle, Winchester on Tuesday 29 January 2002.

PRESENT:

Hampshire County Council

Councillors: K.B. Estlin (Chairman); M.S. Geddes; T.G. Knight; R.H. Price, JP; W.H. Wheeler

Portsmouth City Council

Councillors: J. Patey (Vice-Chairman); N. Lacey; P. Shaddock

20. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 1 November 2001 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

21. SOUTH HAMPSHIRE RAPID TRANSIT 1 - PROGRESS REPORT

The Panel considered a joint report of the County Surveyor, County Treasurer, City Engineer and Director of Finance and Resources, Portsmouth City Council (Item 2 in the Minute Book).

The Project Director summarised the report and confirmed that the final sign-off from the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) to commence the procurement process had been received on 28 January 2002 and the Project Team would now invite expressions of interest from the private sector by advertising the SHRT 1 procurement opportunity in the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC) at the earliest opportunity. Candidates would have until 25 March to submit specific information in the form of a detailed questionnaire to enable their suitability to be assessed. The four most suitable organisations would then be invited to bid for the SHRT 1 Concession.

The Panel agreed that it was very important to adopt a pro-active approach in respect of publicity and it was anticipated that the appointment of a Public Relations Officer at the end of March would assist with this.

During the ensuing discussion, Members detailed questions were answered.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and the outline programme and project budget was endorsed.

22. DATE, TIME AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the Panel would be held on Monday 22 April 2002 at 2.00pm at the offices of Portsmouth City Council.

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