The Transparency Notice is being published to recognise the Direct Award to the Supplier to install the developed central validation solution and pilot the solution.
The Supplier hosts the Central ticketing information system which powers ticket issuing systems.
Retail and Station Enhancements (RSE) Welcome Points Project
This is a Direct Award for consultancy services that have been embedded in the project from its outset.
The value of the spend has gone above the public contracts threshold and therefore has become a convertible contract under PA23.
As Rail Settlement Plan Limited is a utility with no requirement to publish procurement notices for below threshold procurement awards, which this award originally started as, there is no original procurement notice to link this award to and comply with the convertible contract concept.
Therefore, we are publishing Transparency and Contract Award notices to demonstrate that we are being fair and transparent to the market.
The Transparency Notice is being published to recognise the Direct Award to the Supplier to continue delivery of Days out Guide on behalf of the rail industry as they are embedded and intigrated within the business.
Routeing Guide and DTD Services Support and Maintenance
Support and Maintenance Services for Routeing Guide, Data Transformation & Distribution services and other Associated Services, bespokely developed by Tracsis. The services have been developed by Tracsis over many years, creating deep competency within the development and support of this complex, and service critical set of software products.
Contract Award Notice for the award of Passenger Assist services that are already under contract prior to commencement of Procurement Act 2023. Notice being published to cover variation of contract term and pricing structural changes as per related Transparency Notice.
The Department of Transport (DfT) has commissioned RDG to develop and deliver ITSO on Mobile and industry compliance with an updated ITSO specification (V2.1.5) for ticket retail and acceptance with TOCs and their supply chain.
ITSO is one of three main ticketing technologies used by rail and other public transport (primarily bus and tram) within England, Scotland and Wales to offer digital (non-paper) ticketing for the benefit of passengers. The government’s Plan for Rail White Paper sets out a plan to ‘work with … operators to continue the roll-out of digital ticketing on smartphones across the network… (and) bring forward benefits for passengers (of) contactless journeys’. To achieve these objectives, it is vital that the government empowers the rail industry to implement ITSO on Mobile ticketing. This new type of digital ticket will enhance the current range of ticketing options, providing customers with more choice and allowing the industry to plan for the retirement of magnetic stripe tickets.
ITSO on Mobile ticketing combines the convenience of the highly successful smartphone-based eTickets with the speed and security of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.
Features and benefits:
Reuses existing infrastructure - ITSO on Mobile will maximise the return on previous investments, avoiding costly hardware upgrades.
Easy to use - Contactless card usage by phone is already commonplace. ITSO on Mobile tickets will be the same – intuitive and quick. Customers will simply be able to use their smart device (phone or wearable) by holding it to the reader that is already on every automatic ticket gate in the country. On newer handsets, tickets will still work even if the device battery is flat.
Works first time – A recent study by RDG showed that contactless via a smart device is the fastest and most reliable ticketing interface at gatelines.
Fast – ITSO on Mobile will make use of Express Mode for Apple Pay and Google Wallet’s Skip Device Unlock features, which means there will be no need to unlock the phone or open any apps at the gateline. Customers will just hold their device to the reader and go. Contactless ticketing is up to 40% faster than some barcode tickets.
Reduces fraud – ITSO on Mobile is designed to be a highly secure method of ticketing. The fraud prevention features of NFC ticketing are clearly evidenced in the event ticketing arena. Native Operating System (OS) commands allow fast, over-the-air cancellation of tickets if they are lost, stolen or refunded.
Commitment to support from Apple and Google - Following extensive investment and development, both organisations have now committed to supporting ITSO within native wallet, for a seamless customer fulfilment and usage experience.
ITSO on Mobile tickets can be deployed at pace and rolled out nationally as a software-only upgrade to the existing ITSO infrastructure, thus making ITSO on Mobile available everywhere that ITSO smartcards are accepted. With hardware to support ITSO already available across all rail stations nationally, as well as London Underground, buses and trams across the country, no new infrastructure is required.
The implementation of ITSO on Mobile will:
• Complement existing industry digital ticketing projects.
• Support wider rail reform objectives.
• Ultimately make rail ticketing more cost effective and customer friendly.
The project will deliver upon the request from ITSO Ltd to update and publish a new version of the ITSO technical standard – (moving from version 2.1.4 to version 2.1.5) and to ensure a fast-tracked industry compliance. This new version not only unlocks the new specifications to allow the delivery of ITSO on Mobile, but also provides an opportunity to bring the ITSO implementation on National Rail up to a uniform level thus supporting better interoperability. To support this, RDG is putting in a number of contracts with suppliers in the industry to bring their solutions up to the new standards.
Upgrade to the rail industry's central computerised ticket revenue, allocation and apportionment system (LENNON and ORCATS)
The implementation of a new and improved Lennon system, which is provided by Worldline.
The Future Lennon Programme seeks to deliver an enhanced system, including replacing the ORCATS allocation factor calculator, with one that enables a more realistic approach to revenue allocation using increased volumes of data based on near real-life journeys taken by passengers.
The enhancement programme compromises:
(i) Implementation of new allocation factor calculator hosted in the Cloud
(ii) Upgrade of Lennon to refactor software for greater sustainability and supportability and to accommodate output from new allocation factor calculator
(iii) Transferring Lennon to a Cloud hosted environment