NEW! - STS review Forward Commitment for Low Carbon Buses

STS has undertaken a feasibility study for The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) into how a Forward Commitment project would work when applied to low carbon buses and the UK bus market. The study is intended to provide a blue-print of how to implement a low carbon bus procurement group.   A Forward Commitment is a contract between one or more procurers with one or more potential suppliers, such that an organisation commits to purchase a pre-defined quantity of a technology currently under development but not yet available as a commercial offering. In practice this requires the demonstration of the technology before the procurement is confirmed. 

The study will inform the view of the LowCVP with regard to this subject, and be used as an input to the development of the Department for Transport’s Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme.

STS undertook the following tasks:

• Established customer interest in low carbon bus procurement.

• Identified the existing and potentially forthcoming policy drivers available to create or support a market for low carbon buses, in particular outside London.

• Established the contractual structure which would be required to deliver a Low Carbon Bus Forward Commitment.

• Developed a draft specification of a low carbon bus appropriate for procurement processes.

• Held a stakeholder workshop to discuss the key issues involved.