Purpose

The DAR is to award a contract to the successful bidder in a tender exercise for 27 vehicles to support the Highways Operation Team.

Decision

For the reasons set out in this report, the Corporate Director has decided to:

1)    Award a contract for the provision of 27 leased operational vehicles to Kinto UK Limited for a period of 3 years, with a total estimated contract value of £318,023.01

Alternative options considered

Take no action
Take no action would limit the effectiveness of existing services due to lack of available vehicles, with an increasing health and safety risk to the public and contractors operating on behalf of the Council. This also poses a risk of statutory service failure if Highways cannot provide services. Therefore, this option has been discounted.

Short-term hire
While the Council is able to access favourable short?term spot?hire rates through an existing framework, an appraisal of available options has demonstrated that leasing provides the most cost?effective solution over the proposed period. The estimated cost of meeting the operational requirement through continued spot?hire would be approximately double that of procuring vehicles via a formal lease arrangement, resulting in increased revenue expenditure and reduced value for money. Therefore, this option has been discounted.

Outright purchase of additional vehicles
Outright purchase of new vehicles, rather than leasing, is not considered a financially viable option due to the significant upfront capital investment required. This approach would also expose the Council to asset depreciation over subsequent years, and increased maintenance costs associated with an ageing and heavily utilised fleet, resulting in higher whole?life costs and reduced affordability when compared with leasing. Therefore, this option has been discounted.

Electric Vehicle Operational Fleet
The option of procuring fully electric replacement fleet has been considered, however, current operational requirements, including extended operating hours, reactive deployment and limited opportunities for charging downtime, mean that electric vehicles are not suitable for most of this fleet at this time. Range limitations and charging infrastructure would present a risk to operational resilience and service continuity, and a mixed fleet approach including petrol hybrid vehicles therefore represents the most practical and proportionate solution while the Council continues to monitor future developments in electric vehicle capability. Therefore, this option has been discounted.

The short?term lease structure proposed, 3 years, maintains operational resilience while enabling a planned transition to suitable zero?emission vehicles at renewal in 2029, supporting the Council’s Net Zero 2030 target and Future Fuel for Council Fleet Vehicles Policy.