HM Customs and Excise has shortlisted seven suppliers to
go through to the next stage of its procurement process for a £4bn
scheme to charge haulage firms for their road usage.
Technology under consideration includes road-side detectors,
in-vehicle transmitters and satellite-based systems.
The Lorry Road-User Charge (LRUC) contract is designed to
deliver the Government's election manifesto commitment, of ensuring
that all lorries using UK roads, irrespective of nationality,
contribute towards the costs they impose.
The procurement is divided into three main parts: charging data
services, enforcement services and central services.
Serco, Siemens and T-Systems International have been selected to
supply bids for the charging data services contract.
Autostrade, Serco and the TraCS consortium are the three bidders
for the enforcement services contract.
Capita Group, IBM and Siemens have been selected to bid for the
central services contract.
Customs and Excise will be responsible for managing the LRUC,
which is expected to come into force in 2007/08.
Last month the IT procurement was delayed at the request of
bidders.
Customs and Excise was due to announce a shortlist of six
contracts to run three service packages that would build an IT
infrastructure for the Lorry Road User Charge scheme.