Tender: Lobbying and Public Affairs Contract to Promote the Oslo — Gotherburg Railway Stretch

Kort beskrivelse

The political cross-border organisation STRING is now looking to enter into a contract with an agency able to lift awareness around the need for an improved railway stretch between Oslo and Gothenburg and putting this into a broader context to develop accessibility in the entire geography between Hamburg and Oslo. The ultimate goal is to influence decision makers to put this on the national agenda.
The current railway stretch between Oslo and Gothenburg lies along the ScanMed TEN-T corridor, and has been identified by the EU as a bottleneck to accessibility in the whole corridor. Travel times for train passengers on this route far surpass that of road transport — it currently takes twice as long for a freight train going from Oslo to Gothenburg, as it does for a lorry traveling by road. Similarly, cars can go around 30 km/pr.h faster than the train does on this stretch.

Beskrivelse af udbuddet

Several OECD Territorial Reviews point out that innovative cities like Oslo, Gothenburg, Malmö, Copenhagen and Hamburg are still unable to compete on an international market when considered individually. If these cities are able to connect to each other and to the hinterlands surrounding them in a joint geography, they reach a critical mass of around 12.8 million people. This increases competitiveness, along with the ability to attract more skilled labour, competencies and investments. To prevent that our four member countries fall behind the rest of the world in terms of growth and innovation, they need close relations with their neighbours to be part of a financial power centre. Economic growth and productivity are gathered in clusters and in order to become an attractive megaregion and to reap the benefits that come with this, we have to invest in infrastructure. As such, the infrastructural issues caused by the current Oslo-Gothenburg railway are not only a local or national concern – but a concern that is essential to address for the entire region between Hamburg and Oslo. This is becoming increasingly important to address in the light of the coming Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link, which will put a strain on the existing traffic net and heighten capacity issues in the stretch. Without a seamless and sustainable infrastructure system connecting the entire region, the positive effects of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link are rendered weak.
The overall aim is to create a functioning megaregion, where investments, export and chain solutions benefit all our member countries. To get there, infrastructure is key. An upgrade to double tracks on the railway stretch between Oslo and Gothenburg to improve travel times and facilitate a shift of freight and passenger transport from road to rail, creating a competitive and sustainable railway system, is essential.
Making rail travel between the two cities more competitive is far from unobtainable, but it does require an aspiration from Swedish and Norwegian politicians to transfer freight and passenger traffic from road to rail. This would be made more feasible, should the project also have the political support of the EU and other European countries. In order for rail travel to become a competitive and attractive alternative, travel times need to be reduced and tracks need to be capable of handling high speeds.
We need help to get clear facts, communicative messages and influence the political debate to say that this upgrade should be a key priority not only for Swedish and Norwegian governments, but for all of the EU alike. To get there, we will take the winning parties advice on actionable measures, but we currently envisage a public affairs contract entailing the following aspects:
— an analytical overview of the baseline – a written analysis on what the political climate on the issue is like in Sweden, Norway and the EU, what studies are already out there, and what is the current situation?
— collate arguments on the benefits of investment in double tracks for the entire ScanMed corridor and the drawbacks the current situation will entail, focusing on the potential in tying the STRING geography tighter together. A broader take on the issue, the players and its relevance to the world around us in terms of business, inhabitants, labour market potentials, climate etc.
— a concrete lobbying plan of who needs to be reached and influenced with what messages and how. How do we build targeted communication towards decision makers as well as public opinion?
— stakeholder analysis – who are key players to persuade and engage?
— activities plan for meetings and events for 2020 until 2022.
— media plan of how we can take a lead on the public and medial debate on this issue.
— the production of a communications package with key argument and statistics, making it possible for all relevant stakeholders to speak with one voice and pinpoint the same messages.

Yderligere oplysninger

The stretch between Oslo and Gothenburg needs double tracks to create economic growth and improve our environment. With continuously stricter EU and national emission goals, we are dependent on well-functioning rail traffic. We cannot stop travelling, but we can adjust our travel habits if given the right tools to do so.

Liste og kortfattet beskrivelse af betingelserne

5: Timelines
We envisage the above mentioned lobbying work to take place during the remainder of 2020 until the end of 2022. Work should commence as soon as possible upon signing a contract, with the production of a lobbying plan guiding the entire further work, overview of the baseline and collation of key arguments taking precedence.
An overall plan for how to move the issue forward, encompassing the seven aforementioned deliveries and how these should be implemented and when, should be done and ready for implementation in May.
The tender needs to be received no later than 1 April 2020, 00.00.
6: Contact
Should this contract be of interest for your company to tender on, please submit your proposal for how you would tackle the assignment – as well as estimated costs broken down and reference projects — no later than 1 April 2020, electronically to Rebecca Elliott aarr@stringnetwork.org at the STRING Secretariat. Please also feel free to contact her at aarr@stringnetwork.org or +45 2494 3885 should you have any questions or queries.
Please note that due to the geographical precedence of the area in questions, tenders need to demonstrate a clear understanding of the Swedish and Norwegian political structures and media outlets, as well as master a Scandinavian language in order to be considered.
7. Administrational Conditions
The contract will be awarded by the cross-border political cooperation STRING. STRING is legally a part of the Danish public authority, Region Zealand. Danish legal stipulations are therefore to be followed.
The selection of this contract will be made by STRING, together with partners from the following organisations:
• Västra Götalandsregionen
• The City of Gothenburg
• The City of Oslo
• The County Council of Viken
8. Demands and citeria
In order to be considered for this contact, tendering companies need to demonstrate solvency as well as suitability to the contract. Selection criteria will include, but not be limited to:
• relevant and demonstrable previous experience of similar projects – at least three reference projects of similar character and content should be attached to the application.
• Tendering agencies must provide the name, CV and level of seniority members of staff that will actively be working on the project. This must also include and outline of the percentace of involvement from each eam member.
• Fluency in written and spoken Swedish and Norwegian.
• Demonstrable links and previous collaboratios with similar agencies in the other STRING countries; most importantly Sweden and Norway.
• Cost and value for money.
• Time scale of delivery.
• Concreteness and demonstrable knowledge of the current status and challanges presented in the tender.
8. Other conditions
• Price stated in the tender shall include all activities and efforts tendered for.
• Submitted tender needs to account for a breakdown of costs – i.e. for consultancy services, travel, communication, overhead etc. The ender must incude all forseen costs.
• STRING reserves the right the extend the contract beyond the stipulated time frame should this be of mutual interest to both parties.
• We would like to recieve the tender electronically, in English.
• The use of subcontractors or other agencies is accepted – as long as these are named and this is reflected in the overall pricing estimate in the tender.
• STRING reserves the right to withdraw the tendering process should one or any of these conditions occur:
— lack of competition
— unforeseen circumstances
— wrongfully stipulated assessement criteria leading to difficulties in assessing tenders
— prices being too high to award a contract.

We envisage the above mentioned lobbying work to take place during the remainder of 2020 until the end of 2022. Work should commence as soon as possible upon signing a contract, with the production of a lobbying plan guiding the entire further work, overview of the baseline and collation of key arguments taking precedence.
An overall plan for how to move the issue forward, encompassing the seven aforementioned deliveries and how these should be implemented and when, should be done and ready for implementation in May.
The tender needs to be received no later than 1 April 2020, 00.00.