Published date: 21 November 2018

Last edited date: 21 November 2018

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Closing: 28 November 2018

Contract summary

Industry

  • Research and development services and related consultancy services - 73000000

Location of contract

EC2M 2RB

Value of contract

£170,000 to £180,000

Procurement reference

RSSB2725 - Trial of Automated Driver Competence Indicators using On Train Data Recorders

Published date

21 November 2018

Closing date

28 November 2018

Contract start date

17 December 2018

Contract end date

31 January 2020

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (below threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements below the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

Background and context
The rail industry invests significant amounts of time and money in driver training and in demonstrating driver competence through assessments, including manual analysis of data from On-Train Data Recorders (OTDR). OTDR data can also be used in investigating operational incidents such as signals passed at danger (SPADs), stop shorts, station overruns and wrong side door releases.
These activities, which are typically incorporated into a competence management system can be time-consuming to monitor, and therefore incur substantial cost. Additionally, there is presently no agreed industry approach to demonstrating the efficacy of competence management systems in an objective manner. Under the Strategic Partnership established with University of Huddersfield (UOH), a project was carried out to investigate the feasibility of developing of a range of Automated Driver Competency Indicators (ADCIs) based on the automatic analysis of OTDR data.
The results of the project were presented at an industry workshop in October 2016, which was jointly hosted by RSSB and UOH and attended by a wide range of industry stakeholders. The general conclusion was that it is possible to derive ADCIs from OTDR data that have the potential to support driver performance management, and a number of preferred metrics were identified. Potential benefits of ADCIs identified included:
1. Reducing the time taken for driver managers to manually check OTDR data, and the potential to reduce costs in doing so.
2. Improved visibility and frequency of driver performance
3. Having more objectivity, and consistency to assessment of driver performance
4. Capturing data over time, allowing monitoring of trends and precursors
5. Providing drivers with timely feedback on their performance
6. Allowing better targeting of competence management focussing on those drivers in need of support
Following the workshop, the project and its outcomes were discussed at the cross-industry Data & Risk Strategy Group (DRSG), in September 2017. DRSG recommended that a 'demonstrator project' be carried forward to implementation, in close partnership with a TOC, and involving suppliers and other relevant areas expertise as appropriate.
The current specification outlines the proposed way forward for this 'demonstrator project'.
 
Project structure
This project aims to develop, trial and demonstrate value from a tool to assist Train Operating Companies (TOCs) with driver competence support and management. To achieve the benefits from the tool, it is important for the ADCIs developed to be guided by the end users - the Train Operating Companies. It is for this reason that RSSB are partnering with both c2c and London North Eastern Railway (LNER), who have agreed to share their data and support the development of the ADCIs through guidance and feedback.

More information

Attachments

About the buyer

Contact name

R&D Business Partner

Address

THE HELICON 1 SOUTH PLACE
LONDON
EC2M2RB
England

Telephone

020 3142 5300

Email

Shareditt@rssb.co.uk