Publish the rail tender document, urges Plaid

THE Welsh Government has come under fire for refusing to publish its “invitation to tender” document issued to the four firms bidding for the new Wales and Borders rail franchise.

With the process under way to find the next rail operator after the current franchise runs out in October 2018, Plaid Cymru claims not publishing the document is hampering public involvement in the process.

But the Welsh Government has warned that the document contains “sensitive details” and that releasing those would risk “derailing” the bidding process.

Plaid economy spokesman Adam Price said: “There’s a very plain reason why we should be told what the document says at this stage.

“If it’s put into the public domain, we will know what the Welsh Government has asked the tendering companies to provide.

“The public can get involved and influence how the companies respond.

“All four companies are now putting their bids together, and they will be considering what they need to do. There will be four variants in their responses. The more knowledge we have, the better we can influence the companies in what they need to do.

“In any case, there should be a presumption in favour of disclosure.

“There is no question of commercial confidentiality because all four companies involved in the process have access to the same document. It is for the Welsh Government to justify its refusal to publish the document, not ours to justify why it should be.”

Mr Price cited four examples of other franchises where invitation to tender documents were published well in advance of contracts being awarded.

The ScotRail document was published on November 19, 2013, with the franchise awarded in October 2014; the East Anglia document was published on September 17, 2015, with the franchise awarded in August 2016; the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern document was published in September 2013, with the franchise awarded in May 2014; and the South Western document was published on June 30, 2016, with the franchise awarded on the March 27, 2017.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “The competitive, outcomedriven process to procure the Welsh Government’s first rail service provider and metro delivery partner is truly innovative and a world first.

“We invited four companies with world class credentials to submit final tenders over the coming months, an invite which included sensitive details which, if released at this stage, risks derailing the process. We continue to publish as much as we can as soon as we can, allowing for the nature of the process, and we recently published our rail services for the future document, having made the priorities for the service public from the outset.

“Once the service provider has been appointed, early next year, we will make further documents, including the full tender document, public.”