Contact: Kevin Ings, ext 6986 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought:

(i) That a grant of £25,228 be awarded to Test Valley Community Services for the purchase of a small wheelchair accessible vehicle.

(ii) That a grant of £63,619 be awarded to Yelabus for the purchase of an accessible minibus.

(iii) That a grant of £57,000 be awarded to Gosport Voluntary Action for the purchase of an accessible minibus.

(iv) That single tender negotiations take place with the current operators of the Wheels to Work schemes identified in paragraph 5.2 of the report and that temporary single tender contracts be awarded for the period 1 April 2008 to 30 September 2008.

(v) That the Bishops Waltham Minibus Group and the Andover Women's Royal Voluntary Service be invited to submit grant applications for the dial a ride schemes they operate instead of being awarded a single tender contract.

(vi) That an additional payment of £9,653 be made to Fareham Community Action to contribute towards the cost of replacing a Fareham Dial-A-Ride vehicle.

(vii) That an additional payment of £9,000 be made to Fareham Community Action to contribute towards the cost of replacing a Gosport Dial-A-Ride vehicle.

(viii) That the overall approach to tendering and the evaluation process, as set out in paragraphs 5.4-5.9 of the report, be agreed in principle and that the Director of the Environment be given delegated authority to refine the detail before tenders are issued.

(ix) That single tender negotiations take place with the current MiDAS Training Agents identified in paragraph 5.10 of the report and that single tender contracts be awarded for the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009, prior to a competitive tendering process being undertaken.

2. Reason

2.1 This support will ensure that existing community transport services continue to operate and that new services can be developed. It will also ensure that the community transport allocation in the Local Transport Plan Capital Programme is fully utilised in 2007/08 and that the arrangements for moving from service agreements to contracts can continue to be fully implemented.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected

3.1 The community transport allocation in the Local Transport Plan could remain unallocated. This may result in nominated schemes incurring higher operating costs than they would have otherwise incurred and in opportunities for developing new services being lost. The use of grants, partnership agreements, contracts using single tender criteria and competitively tendered contracts have all been considered against the background of the current procurement regulations and the County Council's Standing Orders. The general conclusion was that in future most community transport services would need to be procured through contracts.

4. Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Decision Maker or Other Executive Member Consulted - None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - None.

6. Reason(s) for the Matter being dealt with if Urgent - None.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor M J Kendal

Executive Member for Environment

1563Decn/KI