AT A MEETING of the SOUTH HAMPSHIRE RAPID TRANSIT PROCUREMENT JOINT PANEL held at The Castle, Winchester on Monday 22 April 2002.

PRESENT:

Hampshire County Council

Councillors: K.B. Estlin; M.S. Geddes; T.G. Knight; R.H. Price, JP

Portsmouth City Council

Councillors: N. Lacey; M. Park; J. Patey

Also in attendance: Councillor Jo Kelly

23. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 29 January 2002 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

24. EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

RESOLVED:

That, by virtue of Paragraphs 7 and 9 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for consideration of the matter contained in the following minute.

25. SOUTH HAMPSHIRE RAPID TRANSIT 1 - PRE-QUALIFICATION RESULTS

The Panel considered the confidential report of the County Surveyor and City Engineer, Portsmouth City Council (Item 3 in the Minute Book) on the market response to the SHRT-1 procurement opportunity and the results of the evaluation procedure applied to assess the suitability of each candidate.

The Project Director reported on the response to the advertisement in the OJEC inviting expressions of interest from the private sector in the SHRT -1 procurement opportunity, and the detailed evaluation process that had been undertaken. 12 companies organised as three separate consortia were recommended to progress to the next stage of the tendering process. They were SMART, South Hampshire Supertram and Harbour Light Rail Limited. Each of the candidates had been interviewed and the Project Director was able to confirm that they all had the capacity and commitment to undertake the project.

During the course of the ensuing discussion it was noted that the programme timetable was being adhered to and that once the three consortia had been advised of the decision they would be given 24 weeks to develop their tenders for submission by the end of November 2002.

RESOLVED:

(i) That the results of the pre-qualification process for SHRT-1 be noted and the selection of the three consortia - SMART, South Hampshire Supertram and Harbour Light Rail Limited be endorsed.


(ii) That each consortium be notified of the decision.

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