Germany – Electric buses – Beschaffung von batterieelektrischen Niederflur-Linienbussen (M3 Klasse 1)

The Regionalverkehr Erzgebirge GmbH (hereinafter “RVE” or “Contracting Authority”) is the public transport company of the Erzgebirgskreis. It provides public passenger transport services in scheduled bus services as part of the direct award of a public service contract (PSC) by the contracting authority Erzgebirgskreis, in accordance with Art. 5 (2) of Regulation (EC) 1370/2007, which took place on 29 March 2019. The RVE currently operates 151 lines in public transport, covering a route network of 3,189 km in length and transporting approximately 8.7 million passengers. The RVE's fleet comprises 260 buses. In order to achieve the objective of providing transport services in a more climate-friendly manner, the RVE will introduce battery-electric buses in the Erzgebirgskreis with the support of the funding programme “Guideline for the promotion of alternative drives for buses in passenger transport” of the Federal Ministry of Transport. The funding programme covers 70 % of the grant-eligible additional costs, according to the grant notice. The funding under the RL Bus guideline of the Free State of Saxony covers basic funding. The funding is essential for the RVE's procurement decision. The timely and contractual delivery is, among other things, decisive for the use of funding. The subject of the procurement procedure is the delivery of a total of twenty (20) battery-electric low-floor scheduled buses (10.5 to 12.5 m) including vehicle-related systems (hereinafter “E-Buses”), documentation, training, diagnostic technology and certain data and service services. The vehicles and further services must meet the requirements of the specification. The delivery of all buses must be completed by 30 November 2028. The delivery must be made in four batches of five buses each in bindingly specified periods (see Section 7 of the contract). The charging of the battery buses is to be carried out by means of a CCS 2.0 charging plug in the sense of a depot charge. The charging infrastructure will be procured as part of a separate tender. The RVE, as a public contracting authority which provides a sectoral activity in the provision of transport services, is a sector contracting authority. The procurement of the E-Buses is therefore to be carried out by means of a Europe-wide tender in accordance with the provisions of the Sectors Directive (Sectors Directive).