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Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure & Associated Services - LEVI Fund Portsmouth Partner Operator Concession Agreement
Descriptions
Portsmouth City Council - the 'Council' - is undertaking a further stage of preliminary market engagement (PME) to inform the development of its approach for the delivery of 'Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure' (LEVI) funded electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
The Council is seeking to gain valuable market input through engagement with appropriately experienced & qualified EV charging infrastructure operators via a series of 1-1 on-line TEAMS meetings between the 14th - 21st November 2025. Further details on the booking process, deadlines, project team, meeting format, agenda discussion points, documentation, etc. are included within the PME brief document which is accessible via the Council's e-sourcing solution In-tend.
The LEVI Fund has the following key objectives:
• Deliver a step-change in the deployment of local, primarily low power, on-street charging infrastructure across England
• Accelerate the commercialisation of, and investment in, the local charging infrastructure sector
The Councils own Portsmouth 'Electric Vehicle Infrastructure' (EVI) strategy has the following key objectives:
• Prioritise electric vehicle infrastructure for residents, enabling conversion to electric vehicles
• Transform charging infrastructure provision in Portsmouth to promote it as an EV friendly destination for those visiting and working here
• Working with fleet operators to support conversion to EV, including provision of infrastructure where required
• Work in partnership to support shared and public modes conversion to EV.
The Council has secured £3,682,000 LEVI funding, £3.5M of which will be used to part fund the delivery of EV chargepoints. The successful operator will be expected to secure and deploy the majority of capital funding required, in line with the LEVI objectives for commercialisation, leveraging private investment and enabling cross-subsidisation.
The LEVI funding cannot be utilised for the on-going operation, maintenance and end of contract decommissioning of the infrastructure which will have to be met by the operator.
Since the first PME process undertaken earlier this year over May - June (PME Notice: 2025/S 000-014127), the Council has undertaken further long-term demand analysis and infrastructure requirements modelling. As a result of this the Council is now considering altering its approach for EV infrastructure delivery in relation to chargepoint numbers, technologies, output, locations and customer access but is seeking to gain the views of the market before making any formal decisions.
The Council will use the market feedback gained from this PME process to finalise its approach. Approval will then be sought from the Council's Cabinet Member for Transport at the public meeting scheduled for 5th February 2026 to proceed to submission of the final business case and documentation to the funder, being the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV).
In line with LEVI fund objectives and the Council's objectives, most of the on-street charge points should primarily be low powered between 7kW and 22kW and for the use of residents.
The Council is targeting to have appointed the successful partner operator by September 2026 who will then be required to work in partnership with the council to install an agreed minimum number of chargepoints / sockets by a target date of 2031 on a phased basis.
In respect of a minimum number of chargepoints to be delivered over a 5-year phased programme, the Council is considering reducing the target from the 3,600 pre-dominantly single-socket lower powered (3-5kW) lamp post column chargers stated in the previous PME process to a lower number of higher powered (7-22kW) dual-socket standalone chargepoints.
This potential change in approach has been informed by revised CENEX and NEVIS v6 modelling to project the number of on-street residential EV charging sockets that are likely to be required to meet projected demand by 2050. The Council has also considered the increased flexibility that standalone chargepoints can offer for uptake of future technology driven upgrades when compared to lamp post column chargepoints which may be constrained by existing infrastructure. The Council is also investigating on-going operational performance and ease of maintenance benefits that stand alone units may offer.
Following funder approval, the Council will then undertake an openly advertised procurement process to appoint a partner operator for the supply, installation, maintenance, operation and decommissioning of electrical vehicle chargepoints on a mutually incentivised commercial concession basis. Dependent upon funder review timescales, the Council is targeting commencing the procurement process via publication of a Tender Notice in April 2026 with contract award subsequently targeted for August 2026 and contract commencement following in September 2026.
It is not envisaged that a list of pre-defined sites will be released as part of the tender pack for the future procurement. The operator will be responsible for proposing, surveying and designing sites for chargepoint installations which will primarily meet the needs of residents without off-street parking or the ability to install a private home chargepoint, using their own analytical tools and methodologies.
Following award, the chargepoint distribution, locations, access and phasing approaches put forward at tender will be developed and finalised in collaboration with the Council. Each phase will be subject to a series of milestone gateway checks including for seeking formal approval to proceed from the Programme Board and Cabinet Member for Transport.
The successful operator will be responsible for the design, installation (inc. civils works), operation, maintenance and end of term demobilisation & removal of the chargepoint network.
The operator will be responsible for all installation works and costs, including any fees payable to the Distribution Network Operator (DNO), costs of obtaining necessary temporary and permanent licenses, consents, and Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) and appropriate parking bay marking & signing.
It will be the responsibility of the operator to work in partnership with the Council to comply with the Council's internal approval process, prior to installations.
The operator will be granted a concessions contract and associated section 50 licence (or permit for Statutory Undertakers) for on-street locations, or associated lease for off-street locations.
The contract will commence in September 2026 and will run for a period of 15 years, extendable by a further year if required to enable effective demobilisation. The contract will be let using flexible open book commercial concession terms prepared by the Council's Legal Advisors Browne Jacobson.
The council will release funding to the operator incrementally in arrears based upon evidence of successful commission of charge points.
The council forecasts that the turnover income that could be generated by the successful operator over the term of the contract could equate on average to £1,800,000 per annum. Over the contract period of 15 years this could equate to £26,590,000. This includes potential income from the rapid/ultra rapid charge points.
The above figures, assumptions and associated demand projections will be tested as part of this preliminary market engagement process.
Whilst the Council is not seeking to make a direct profit from the operation of the chargepoint infrastructure, the operator will be required to provide an income stream to the Council which will be used by the Council to cover its own running costs. This will take the form of a guaranteed management fee which may be profiled plus a gain share mechanism.
The contract will be subject to open book reporting and will require the operator to provide information at regular frequencies and upon request on sales revenues, costs incurred, and profits generated.
The cost of charging an electric vehicle for residents, visitors and others should be affordable. Operators will be required to provide details of the tariff, or range of tariffs, that they would implement when the chargepoints are first commissioned as part of their proposed financial model.
The Council is considering including for a pence per kilowatt hour (p/kWh) margin cap with operators having the ability to set a cap in their tender response. It is envisaged that the cap would increase annually in line with inflation (CPI).
The operator will be able to apply to the Council to adjust the tariff periodically, ideally no more than twice per year at April and October. Any adjustments would need at least 2 months notice to allow for internal review processes and communication to network users.
For the future procurement process, the Council envisages utilising an 'Open Procedure' procurement strategy in accordance with the requirements of Section 20 of the Procurement Act 2023. The Council's position is that the contract falls under the definition of a Concession Contract as set out within Section 8 of the Procurement Act 2023.
The envisaged summary outline procurement programme which will be tested as part of this PME process is set out below:
• Tender Notice published on FTS - 6th April 2026
• Procurement documents available on In-tend e-sourcing system - 6th April 2026
• Tender return deadline - 1st June 2026
• Presentation & interview - w/c 15th June 2026
• Evaluation of tenders completed & submission of recommendation to funder for approval - 6th July 2026
• Issue Assessment Summaries - 3rd August 2026
• Contract award notice published on FTS - 3rd August 2026
• Standstill period - 4th - 13th August 2026
• Contract award - 14th August 2026
• Contract commencement - September 2026
Timeline
Published Date :
Deadline :
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Tender Regions
CPV Codes
48612000 - Database-management system
51112000 - Installation services of electricity distribution and control equipment
79342310 - Customer survey services
31681500 - Rechargers
79342100 - Direct marketing services
79342200 - Promotional services
79342311 - Customer satisfaction survey
45231400 - Construction work for electricity power lines
65300000 - Electricity distribution and related services
31213000 - Distribution equipment
71311300 - Infrastructure works consultancy services
48480000 - Sales, marketing and Business intelligence software package
71314100 - Electrical services
45233270 - Parking-lot-surface painting work
79342320 - Customer-care services
45233291 - Installation of bollards
45113000 - Siteworks
79342300 - Customer services
79341200 - Advertising management services
45233290 - Installation of road signs
71510000 - Site-investigation services
79312000 - Market-testing services
79341400 - Advertising campaign services
48110000 - Point of sale (POS) software package
48445000 - Customer Relation Management software package
9310000 - Electricity
Keywords
electricity
power supply
utility power
grid electricity
energy
electrical distribution equipment
distribution panel
power distribution board
service distribution
network distribution unit
recharger unit
charging device
battery recharger
portable charger
energy replenisher
siteworks
site development services
construction site preparation
infrastructure siteworks
earthworks support
industrial site setup
utility siteworks
groundwork services
site facility preparation
construction siteworks
electric power line installation
high-voltage line construction
overhead transmission line build
power grid erection
electrical distribution infrastructure
utility line installation
energy corridor build
electric conductor installation
overhead cable line work
power transmission structure
parking lot marking
car park painting
parking space marking
bay marking
asphalt parking lines
parking lot coating
directional painting
reserved spot painting
lot striping
parking zone paint
road sign installation
traffic signage fitting
highway sign setup
regulatory sign placement
directional sign mounting
traffic sign erection
street sign placement
road marking signage
bollard installation
safety bollard fitting
traffic bollard mounting
pedestrian bollard placement
anti‑ram bollards
parking bollard installation
street bollard works
protective post fitting
POS software package
retail cash register system
sales transaction software
point-of-sale system install
checkout software
CRM platform
lead nurturing tool
customer profiling engine
sales pipeline tracker
opportunity management system
client interaction log
marketing automation suite
customer dashboard UI
contact segmentation tool
customer feedback analyzer
sales pipeline tool
lead analytics platform
campaign performance tracker
BI dashboard software
customer segmentation engine
ROI analysis tool
competitor intelligence suite
market trend predictor
sales forecasting engine
DBMS platform
client-server database
database security manager
user privilege control
concurrency control engine
data integrity module
replication manager
high-availability cluster
schema versioning tool
database audit logs
switchboard assembly
distribution panel wiring
busbar installation
relay coordination setup
control cabinet mounting
MCC panel install
circuit protection device setup
cable organzing
voltage monitoring installation
power distribution test
electric power supply
grid operation
electricity delivery
power infrastructure
electrical network management
public utility services
electricity transmission
energy distribution
electrical utility
voltage regulation
infrastructure planning consulting
public works advisory
infrastructure systems design
utilities infrastructure services
civil infrastructure consultancy
urban works advisory
infrastructure project feasibility
infrastructure engineering consultancy
municipal infrastructure support
road/rail/airport infrastructure advisory
electrical installations
electrical maintenance
wiring services
power distribution
electrical systems management
lighting installation
electrical repair works
circuit installation
electrical safety audits
power systems servicing
geotechnical analysis
soil mechanics testing
groundwater condition evaluation
bedrock profiling
foundation feasibility testing
environmental borelogging
contaminant level surveys
stratigraphic sampling
construction soil risk evaluation
laboratory soil classification
groundwater table analysis
geochemical analysis
preliminary site diagnostics
terrain behavior study
stability testing
market testing services
product testing
consumer response testing
pilot marketing
test marketing
market validation studies
prototype testing
test campaign conduction
product trial evaluation
consumer feedback collection
advertising management
ad campaign oversight
media buying management
campaign execution support
ad account management
budget management
campaign logistics
campaign services
campaign planning
campaign implementation
campaign coordination
integrated ad campaigns
thematic advertising
promotional drives
campaign execution
direct marketing
direct mail campaigns
email marketing
telemarketing
targeted marketing
customer outreach
database marketing
direct-response advertising
promotional services
event promotions
promotional staffing
product promotion
brand activation
promotional materials
giveaways
promotional event support
customer services
client support
consumer assistance
helpdesk services
service desk
customer interaction
service experience management
client relations
after-sales support
customer care
customer survey services
customer feedback surveys
satisfaction survey design
survey execution
opinion polling
client questionnaires
consumer survey analysis
customer insight gathering
satisfaction metrics
feedback collection
customer satisfaction survey
client satisfaction measurement
CSAT surveys
satisfaction benchmarking
post‑service evaluation
satisfaction index
consumer satisfaction polling
customer experience feedback
satisfaction assessment
customer-care services
customer support
proactive support
issue resolution
after-sales care
account management
service follow-up
care coordination
relationship maintenance
service recovery
Tender Lot Details
2 Tender Lots
Workflows
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Possible Competitors
1 Possible Competitors
