Future opportunity

Central Line Signalling Incremental Upgrade Project

  • Transport for London

F01: Prior information notice (prior information only)

Notice reference: 2021/S 000-019512

Published 11 August 2021, 6:18pm



Section one: Contracting authority

one.1) Name and addresses

Transport for London

5 ENDEAVOUR SQUARE

LONDON

E201JN

Contact

David Demmery

Email

CentralLineIncrementalUpgrade@tfl.gov.uk

Telephone

+44 2072225600

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

UK - United Kingdom

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://tfl.gov.uk/

one.3) Communication

Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address

one.4) Type of the contracting authority

Body governed by public law

one.5) Main activity

Other activity

Regional transport


Section two: Object

two.1) Scope of the procurement

two.1.1) Title

Central Line Signalling Incremental Upgrade Project

Reference number

26775

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 51900000 - Installation services of guidance and control systems

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.1.4) Short description

Transport for London (TfL) is issuing a Market Sounding Questionnaire (MSQ) as part of the Early Market Engagement (EME) activity for the Central Line Signalling Incremental Upgrade Project (CSIP).

The purpose of the MSQ is to improve TfL's understanding of market/supplier appetite, capacity and capability, as well as perceived risks and opportunities to TfL's proposals for an incremental approach to the renewal and upgrade of the Central Line (CL) Signalling & Train Control (S&TC), meaning the signalling, signalling control and automatic train control systems, together with associated infrastructure.

The EME activities are being undertaken to inform the overall scope of works planned over the next 20 plus years that are proposed to progressively renew and upgrade the current CL S&TC with new equipment and systems.

two.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

two.2) Description

two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)

  • 51900000 - Installation services of guidance and control systems

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UKI - London
Main site or place of performance

London Underground; Central Line

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

This is a prior information notice without commitment to procurement.

two.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice

1 April 2022


Section four. Procedure

four.1) Description

four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No


Section six. Complementary information

six.3) Additional information

TfL : Market Sounding Questionnaire

Central Line Signalling Incremental Upgrade Project

Background

Transport for London (TfL) is issuing a Market Sounding Questionnaire (MSQ) as part of the Early Market Engagement (EME) activity for the Central Line Signalling Incremental Upgrade Project (CSIP).

The purpose of the MSQ is to improve TfL's understanding of market/supplier appetite, capacity and capability, as well as perceived risks and opportunities to TfL's proposals for an incremental approach to the renewal and upgrade of the Central Line (CL) Signalling & Train Control (S&TC), meaning the signalling, signalling control and automatic train control systems, together with associated infrastructure.

The EME activities are being undertaken to inform the overall scope of works planned over the next 20 plus years that are proposed to progressively renew and upgrade the current CL S&TC with new equipment and systems.

The MSQ responses and EME activities will aid the development of the scope of works, delivery and procurement strategies.

The current CL S&TC equipment and systems are obsolete and life expired or will be over the next 10 to 15 years. Maintenance and obsolescence interventions had previously been planned to support operation until re-signalling by the Deep Tube Upgrade Programme (DTUP), however this programme, including an option to re-signal the CL, was discontinued in 2019.

TfL believes an incremental upgrade approach for the CL will be more affordable than a 'Big Bang' upgrade, enabling a more consistent and lower annual spend over a longer period of time, making better use of future capital funding. TfL is looking for opportunities that could lower unit costs or deliver savings from new technology or innovation. TfL currently considers a 'Big-Bang' upgrade of the CL to be unaffordable. CSIP is included in the current TfL Long Term Capital Plan with a significant budget forecast of multiple hundreds of millions of Pounds over the next 20 plus years.

Project Summary

The concept of CSIP is to deliver an obsolescence and reliability led upgrade of the CL S&TC system by progressively renewing and upgrading parts of the CL S&TC, with new equipment and systems, over the next 20 plus years.

During this timeframe TfL expects to procure a new train fleet and the overall scope of works must align with and demonstrate a viable migration strategy that enables the introduction of the new train fleet whilst the current train fleet is progressively withdrawn from service.

The overall scope of works are being planned as a number of phases, these may be subdivided into stages. TfL does not envision tendering all, or multiple phases as a single contract. Instead, TfL proposes tendering and awarding contracts for, one or more stages, or a whole phase. These may be competitively tendered. Stages within a phase would most likely be awarded to the same supplier(s). TfL expects delivery of CSIP to develop long-term supplier relationships for the ongoing support of the new equipment and systems.

The first phase, Incremental Asset Replacement, supports urgent mitigation of obsolescence and reliability concerns in the current S&TC. TfL expects works will require modification of proprietary parts of the current S&TC and due to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues supplier(s) should anticipate the need to work with Siemens Mobility to make changes to the current S&TC.

MSQ

Suppliers are requested to register their interest in receiving the weblink to the Market Sounding Questionnaire and supporting documents. Please email the address below, include "MSQ" in the header:

CentralLineIncrementalUpgrade@tfl.gov.uk

Industry Day

TfL is proposing to hold an Industry Day in mid-September (provisionally 21/09/21). Suppliers are requested to register their interest in attending this event that is likely to be held virtually on MS Teams (maximum of 4 attendees per supplier). The purpose of this Industry Day is for TfL to provide information to assist with the completing of the MSQ and answer any key questions not covered in the supporting documents. Please email the address below by the 14/09/21 and include "Industry Day" in the header to confirm your attendance and the email address/s that the MS Teams invite will need to be sent to:

CentralLineIncrementalUpgrade@tfl.gov.uk

This EME activity does not form part of any formal procurement process. All responses will be carefully considered but will not bind TfL to any particular scope of work, or approach to procurement, nor will the responses be treated as conveying any promise or commitment on the part of the respondent.

Post Submission Supplier Engagement

TfL is proposing to host further supplier engagement following submission of MSQ. These are likely to be held as 1-2-1s with suppliers to discuss their responses. TfL expects to hold these in late October/early November. Dates and times to be confirmed.

Completed MSQs must be received by 5th of October 2021.