Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether risk adjustments have been made to the rail passenger franchises currently out to tender for services on the (a) South Western, (b) West Midlands and (c) East Anglia lines since 23 June 2016; and if he will provide details of any such adjustments in each case.

Paul Maynard

The Department issued the Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the West Midlands franchise on 30 August 2016, and bidders have until 29 November 2016 to submit their bids. The Department intends to follow the risk adjustment process as detailed in the published ITT once bids have been received.

The Department is evaluating bids for the South Western rail franchise and intends to follow the risk adjustment process as detailed in Appendix 3 to the Invitation to Tender, published on the Department’s website.

The East Anglia franchise competition concluded on 23 August, when the Department signed the Franchise Agreement with Abellio East Anglia. The Department followed the risk adjustment process detailed in the Invitation to Tender, published on the Department’s website.

The Department does not communicate the detail of Risk Adjustments, as these relate to cost and revenue details of the leading bid, which are commercially sensitive.