A petition calling on lifeline Northern Isles ferry operator Serco NorthLink to replace sleeping pods with couchettes to allow people without cabin accommodation a proper night’s sleep is rapidly gaining signatures.
Three Bidders Invited To Apply For Contract To Run Ferries For The Northern Isles
The invitation to tender for the next contract to run ferries to the Northern Isles has been issued to three bidders.
Submission of final tenders is scheduled for March 2019, with a view to awarding the contract in July 2019.
The contract is estimated to be worth £370m and will run for eight years. Two of the bidders are current holders Serco as NorthLink and Calmac – the third is not known.
Northern Isles Ferry Tender
The procurement of the next contract to operate the Northern Isles Ferry Services (from/to Orkney and Shetland) is underway, with the publication of the contract notice.
The current contract, with Serco, finishes in October 2019.
The contract, worth an estimated £370m, will run for eight years and all routes will be tendered as a single bundle.
The Invitation To Tender documents will issue early in the new year, with a view to awarding the contract in Summer 2019.
Rather than a direct award to an in-house operator, the general public preferred a procedure where the contract is being put out to tender
The procurement process for routes between mainland Scotland and Orkney and Shetland will get underway in June, with a view to making the award in Summer 2019.
In 2012 Serco was awarded the contract for six years.
Photo: Northlink
Northlink Ferries Union RMT reacted to the ministerial statement, announcing that the next public contract for the Northern Isles Ferry services will be put out to tender. They
rather would have seen the contract being run “in-house” on a permanent basis. In other words: a nationalized ferry service.
Cheaper Fares For Northern Isles: When?.
Transport Scotland has insisted that the roll-out of cheaper ferry fares for the Northern Isles will still take place in the first half of 2018 after concerns were raised at the Scottish Parliament over the impact the lack of clarity is having on the tourism industry.