Bristol City Leap, an ambitious project to deliver a zero-carbon, smart energy city by 2030, has re-launched a global search to deliver up to GBP 1 billion (USD 1.3 billion) of investment and provide significant economic benefits for the people of Bristol and its businesses.

The City has been undertaking a procurement exercise since September 2019 to identify the future Strategic Partner, and it has shortlisted a number of bidders and carried out a dialogue stage with them. After the feedback from the participants, it was decided to do certain changes to the procurement. Come of the changes are “material” to the procurement and require the council, by law, to bring the current procurement to an end and start afresh.

The Bristol City Council has now published a Concession Notice and Selection Questionnaire to identify a strategic partner to form a long term corporate joint venture with the Council, the City Leap Energy Partnership, to provide and secure low-carbon energy-related investment and expertise to deliver City Leap’s Strategic Objectives.

The City Leap Energy Partnership will provide opportunities for the development, construction, and financing of low-carbon energy-related projects and delivery of associated services to assist with meeting Bristol’s carbon neutrality targets. It will also afford the opportunity to provide certain services to other public bodies in the South West region.

As part of its role in the City Leap Energy Partnership, in addition to providing finance and investment for the City Leap opportunity, the strategic partner will be expected to provide commercial support and technical expertise to assist with the origination, development, facilitation, and delivery of low carbon energy-related assets and services. It is anticipated that the origination and development services may also be provided to public bodies other than the Council across the South West region. The strategic partner will be willing to work in partnership with a broad range of organizations, including those working in Bristol’s community, energy and sustainability sectors, and other public bodies, to facilitate the delivery of low carbon energy projects on a city-wide and, potentially, regional basis.

The procurement process will involve multiple stages, including negotiations, and the Council reserves the right to reduce the number of solutions discussed or tenders to be negotiated.

The deadline for the submission of documents to participate in the tender is on September 18, 2020. 

The tender information can be accessed on our business opportunity page here.