EGIP Bid Support
Hitachi
Edinburgh-Glasgow improvement programme bid support
Overview
Transport Scotland invited five prequalified bidders to submit tenders for the new ScotRail franchise due to commence in April 2015.
Bids were due in April 2014 and as part of their responses bidders were required to provide Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) proposals for resourcing the new electric services to be introduced under the EGIP (Edinburgh-Glasgow Improvement Programme) from December 2016. Transport Scotland issued requirements for the new rolling stock – anticipated to be met by new build – and incorporated delivery of these within the franchise ITT. Hitachi Rail Europe (HRE) prequalified with each of the five bidders to respond to corresponding ITNs for the rolling stock. IPEX Consulting (IPEX) was engaged by the HRE commercial team to help author and coordinate the HRE bid in each case from the perspective of reviewing the HRE technical submission and delivery plans and marshalling material from the considerable in-house capability and experience into a cohesive and complete response to the specific ITN requirements.
- Bid coordination and writing
- Reviewing technical submission
- Commercial team support
- Updating bid library for future bids
Our client's challenge
HRE is growing fast and faces exciting challenges with existing projects to resource alongside the pursuit of new business, as well as channelling the might of the technical and production expertise in Japan through the UK-based technical, commercial and project delivery organisation.
With multiple opportunities for new rolling stock to pursue HRE recognises well the importance of developing consistent generic bid material for the UK and mainland Europe without losing any of the strengths within Hitachi’s deep heritage and track record in train building and delivery. The preparation and presentation of bid responses that respond as competitively as possible to the letter and the intent of the technical, operational and commercial requirements of the franchise bidders requires sensitivity to the cultural and organisational stresses within a transitioning organisation as well as considerable rolling stock bidding experience. HRE needed highly experienced and professional bidding expertise to help resource the team to manage and guide this crucial series of bids, and to flex and adapt as the needs of the in-house organisation developed.
Our response
IPEX deployed a small team to project manage the assembly of the technical submissions and delivery plans in response to the requirements.
Respecting the sensitivities, particularly of an external consultant potentially critiquing the outputs of a highly respected train builder, IPEX operated very much in the background to support the commercial team facing the clients and to marshal the document production without causing threat or discomfort for the hugely competent in-house expertise. Key roles included review and fine tuning of submissions to maximise the adherence to the requirements and the consistency and cohesiveness across the submissions, creative challenge to draw out the best possible response, and project administration to verify clause by clause completeness and to handle, collate, upload and submit the documents. Latter contributions included the updating of the bid library to capture the developed concepts and material for future rolling stock bids.
The value to the client
HRE is already a highly respected and competent train builder and maintainer for the UK, with Class 395 and now IEP (Intercity Express Programme) projects under its belt along with all of the development work that has preceded these.
However the role performed by IPEX helped the marshalling of this expertise into rolling stock bids to be performed – within a transitioning organisation – through a process that supports a commercially-led bid strategy and response and use of a growing portfolio of generic train platforms. IPEX’s bid assembly, coordination and review also helped the marshalling of HRE’s expertise into EGIP rolling stock bids against five separate sets of requirements, three of which parties appointed HRE their preferred bidder and a fourth inviting a BAFO from HRE. This success resulted in HRE being awarded the contract to manufacture and supply a new fleet of Class 385 EMU to the winning bidder of the ScotRail franchise – Abellio ScotRail.
