Agenda item

To approve the s.151 officer to sign and enter into contract with Gamma Energy Ltd., the successful bidder for the installation of Electric Vehicle (EV) chargepoints across the Black Country

Agreed:-

(1)          that approval be given for the s.151 officer to sign and enter into contract with Gamma Energy Ltd., the successful bidder for the installation of Electric Vehicle (EV) chargepoints across the Black Country with the initial call-off covering the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) funded project at a value of £400,574, but call-offs up to a total of £2.5million are possible.

(2)          that in connection with 1.1 above, the conditions relating to the grant-funded element and the revenue share implications be received.

                  Approval was sought to authorise the Section151 Officer to sign and enter into a contract with Gamma Energy Ltd., the successful bidder for the installation of Electric Vehicle (EV) chargepoints across the Black Country with the initial call-off covering the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) funded project at a value of £400,574, but call-offs up to a total of £2.5million are possible.

The Chair of the Budget and Corporate Scrutiny Management Board asked what the Council were doing to address the need for ever-increasing requirements for charging points as a result of the end of new petrol and diesel cars in the UK by 2030.

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Growth stated that the proposed contract was specifically to provide on-street charge points in residential areas where there is no off-street parking and thus no ability for people to locate charge points within their own property boundary.

Further funding was available through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) to increase the number of charge points in Sandwell to the target figure of 250 by 2025 as set out in the Black Country ULEV Strategy.

This target was based on the forecast number of EVs likely to be in use in areas without off-street parking by that date.

There would be further rounds of Government funding through the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles specifically targeted at areas without off-street parking and Sandwell would take every opportunity to bid for such funds.

Residents with driveways that own electric vehicles would continue to be expected to provide their own charge points.

In addition to the ORCS funding, the West Midlands Combined Authority was seeking to provide 10 Charging Area Transit Stations, effectively service stations for EVs with rapid charging facilities, across the West Midlands through CRSTS. At least one of these would be located in Sandwell.

Planning policies would require all new residential, office, retail and leisure developments and any major extension proposals to include EV charging in their design.

The LGA had responded to Government that Local Authorities are best placed to establish where EV charging was required and was lobbying Government to increase the amount funding available to LAs to bring this about.

Reasons for Decision

This contract will be used to deliver 37 public dual socket chargepoints (74 sockets) in residential areas where residents do not have access to off-street parking and are therefore not able to charge their vehicles on driveways with a private charge point, as is the norm. The funding will therefore deliver approximately 40% of the 7kW chargepoints required by 2025 in order to support Sandwell’s transition to electric vehicles in the light of the Government’s intended ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles in 2030, as outlined in the Black Country ULEV (Ultra Low Emission Vehicles) Strategy.

                  Alternative Options Considered

                  The decision to progress with this approach was the culmination of months of discussions and independent advice. The concession model was chosen as the best compromise between pursuing a fully operator funded model which would significantly limit our ability to influence locations of chargepoints, and minimise and possible revenue return, and a more hands-on own-and-operate model that would carry significant revenue risk.

The model gives the local authorities the ability to leverage capital grant funding available to de-risk the delivery and secure an operator who will commit to covering all revenue costs for the contract term.

Having chosen to seek a concession contract, discussions were carried out to select the best route to market. An open tender process was considered, but the increased resource required, and the greater risk when compared to using an existing framework were unattractive. A large number of available frameworks and Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) were considered, eventually settling on the Oxford City Council framework owing to the broad range of suppliers with access offering the best chance of a competitive process leading to stronger bids. The DPS also benefits from being new, which means that it incorporates all the latest technical specifications and experience from the last few years of public sector EV chargepoint delivery.

The successful bidder, Gamma Energy Ltd., scored the highest during our further competition on the DPS, meeting all mandatory requirements and achieving the best overall score across the criteria with a 50:50 price/quality split.

Agreed:-

(1)          that approval be given for the s.151 officer to sign and enter into contract with Gamma Energy Ltd., the successful bidder for the installation of Electric Vehicle (EV) chargepoints across the Black Country with the initial call-off covering the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) funded project at a value of £400,574, but call-offs up to a total of £2.5million are possible.

(2)          that in connection with Resolution (1) above, the conditions relating to the grant-funded element and the revenue share implications be received.