Social Value Ideas for Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

EV charging concession procurement

The Combined Authority is procuring a 15-year concession contract for the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) programme. The initial rollout is backed by £9.6 million of capital investment, w…

“Thanks Councillor Shaw. So the LEVI programme as we refer to it, local electric vehicle infrastructure. It's actually ahead of that, so we're just to …”

108 zero-emission buses ordered

The authority has ordered 108 zero-emission buses from Alexander Dennis and Wrightbus, with delivery expected by the end of 2025 into early 2026. These vehicles are tied to the planned 2026 franchisin…

“In terms of the zero emission vehicles, 108 zero emission busses have been ordered and are being produced by the UK's two major manufacturers Alexande…”

Broad Green accessibility delay

Broad Green station's accessibility scheme was two years late after Northern and its contractors failed to progress the works, prompting intervention up to ministerial level and a transfer of commissi…

“but the blot on the copybook for us was a scheme that northern trains were meant to commission at Broad Green station and it was meant to be delivered…”

£1.6bn transport funding pipeline

The Combined Authority secured £1.6 billion of transport funding for the 2027 onwards period and has started to profile the planning and spend proposal for that period. This is a major capital pipelin…

“We did get a good national settlement, we got 1 .6 billion pounds of transport funding in the spending review for 2027 onwards and we've already start…”

Merseyrail operating model review

Officers are exploring options for the future Merseyrail operating model, including extending the current contract, retendering when it ends in 2028, or bringing services in-house. External experts ha…

“the commitment to look at a new operating model for Mersey Rail was actually a subject of a paper at the Combined Authority in March and the combined …”

£1.6bn transport capital funding

The combined authority will receive £1.6 billion of capital funding between 2027 and 2032 through Transport for the City Regions funding. This provides the medium-term funding base for transport deliv…

“The spending review also committed to other funding sources. This is covered in section 4 .9. Many of these still haven't been clarified. They are lik…”

Procurement strategy to ELT and committee

A consolidated procurement strategy is being drafted, informed by stakeholder feedback and best practice, and is due to go to the Executive Leadership Team next month for approval. The Head of Procure…

“So I've initially done assessments of sort of how the function works, you know, touched on using the local government association assessment that I've…”

Procurement policy still outstanding

The committee highlighted a long-standing outstanding recommendation to formulate a procurement policy, with internal audit confirming the procurement strategy is being drafted and should be updated a…

“But one of the things that when you give us an audit update, you always go through the number of outstanding recommendations that are yet to be implem…”

£17.2m social value delivered

The social value report states that £17.2 million in social value was delivered through contracting partners during 2025. This is a key procurement outcome and evidence of the authority's social value…

“So some really key highlights, but there's more information in the papers and with the case studies, are that we delivered £17 .2 million in social va…”

No bus conductors planned

The authority confirmed it has no plans to specify an additional onboard person such as a bus conductor in the franchise model. Safety and passenger assistance will instead be addressed through other …

“Yes, I'm pleased to say that question. There are no plans. We've not specified in the bus franchise competitions to put a second person on board the b…”

Bus depot acquisition and CPO

The bus franchising model depends on the combined authority owning bus depots and fleets. Commercial negotiations with current depot owners are underway, while a compulsory purchase order process has …

“First of all, owning our depots and our fleet creates a level playing field for all bidders who are trying to win the franchises, regardless of whethe…”

Tranche 1 bus franchise tender

The first tranche of the bus franchise procurement is live, with bids received and evaluation underway. The authority reports strong market interest and a robust competition for the initial franchise …

“The second point I wanted to draw attention to is the procurement process that we're running which is well underway now for Tranch One for the first c…”