The Nordland County Council has approved testing of a modified tender procedure for the procurement of transportation services by sea, so-called 'divided gross tenders', cf. case 019/14, attached. This means that Nordland County (NFK) divides the procurement of the transport services into three parts; where the acquisition of vessels, the financing of vessels and operations of vessels are secured in separate competitions.
The purpose of this procurement is to establish a framework agreement with a supplier regarding ownership and financing of vessels with a limit of up to NOK 800 000 000. Vessels will be acquired by the selected vendor who provides the funding, at a time of NFK's own choosing. NFK will then take disposal of the vessel in question on the basis of long-term leases with the right to sub-lease in connection with tenders for operating scheduled passenger services in the county (so-called 'sale-and-leaseback' transaction). At the end of the leasing period, it should be possible to transfer the vessels free of charge to NFK. See the attached qualification documents for more information on the procurement, and the enclosed framework agreement for further information on the contract terms.