Purpose

This report seeks approval to commence a
procurement exercise to invite tenders for a concession to install,
operate and maintain electric vehicle (EV) 300 column chargers
within Liverpool. Due to the value of the concession a procurement
exercise needs to be undertaken

Decision

For the reasons set out in this report, the
Corporate Director has decided to:
1)   
Approve the commencement of a procurement process for an EV Column
Charger concession contract with an estimated value of
£10.0m

Alternative options considered

1.1         
“Do nothing” – This is an option which would
result in there being less EV chargers within the city, which would
discourage the transition to electric vehicles.  Therefore it has been discounted.
1.2         
“Council Own and Operate” – Under this option the
Council would pay for the chargers to be installed and then operate
them.  The Council is not set up to
operate EV chargers and to operate them would require substantial
investment in resources and infrastructure.  Also from previous experience, the maintenance of
the equipment is a challenge, as this was the responsibility of the
Council under the first phase of EV column chargers and left the
Council with a significant risk, due to the lack of
maintenance.   Due to the costs and
operational risks, this option has been discounted.