Public to be kept in dark over Welsh Rail Franchise tenders,

A Welsh Government spokesperson said the franchise process was designed to see "experts in the field deliver the best solutions for Wales - ensuring that every pound spent has a direct benefit to passengers and communities".
The government added the invite included "sensitive details" which, if released at this stage, "risks derailing the process".

An official said,

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

The Welsh Government said making tender invites public "risks" the process.
 The Welsh Government said their "competitive, outcome driven process" is a
 "world first" where they provided the bidders with "priorities" rather than an invitation to tender documents, which happened in England, similar to the 2006 South Western franchise.

 So it would be interesting to compare the tenders with the priorities which you can see in above link.


The winner of the new 15-year franchise will be announced in December.

 But industry expert Prof Stuart Cole told BBC Wales: "I don't understand why the Welsh Government hasn't published its tender documents."

 "The English Department for Transport publish their bidding documents so the public, politicians, passengers, pressure groups and commentators can comment on the proposals.
"The passengers are the people that really count and I would have thought it would have been quite useful for the Welsh Government and Transport for Wales to hear their input."

An invitation to tender is generally a public document," said Bruce Williamson of Railfuture, which campaigns on rail-related issues.

"So franchise bidders know what they are bidding for and the passengers, the key to success for rail companies, and passenger groups can have their input on the level of service proposed. It's a bit of a missed opportunity."

We could well find in December that the franchise has been awarded to a company that has made no commitment to meeting  the Welsh Government's own priorities  by then it will be to late for others to make their contributions.

 Once again we are being kept in the dark by an arrogant that believes that it can bypass democratic input  fro others and it seems this applies to Cardiff Bay as well as Westminster.