THE Procurement Partnership has launched a new Vehicle Rental Framework in partnership with Commercial Services Kent to provide UK public bodies with a compliant route to 41 vehicle rental companies for the next 4 years.

The new Framework builds on the success of the previous iteration which was scoped for the rental of Passenger Cars, LCVs, MCVs, Welfare Accessible Buses and Coaches, Sweepers and Heavy Goods Vehicles up to 44 tonnes.

The latest solution comes with the addition of two new lots (4 and  5), aimed at providing public bodies with flexible long-term rental solutions and car club and pool car schemes. These additions will enable better adoption of EV’s for organisations not quite yet ready, with car clubs and pool car schemes offering improved vehicle utilisation and carbon footprint output from organisations operating grey fleet vehicles and aged pool car fleets.

The new Framework comprises five lots:

• Lot 1: Hire of Passenger Cars & Light Commercial Vehicles <365 days (22 suppliers)
• Lot 2: Hire of Converted accessible and non-accessible minibuses and coaches 5-72 seats (6 suppliers)
• Lot 3: Hire of Medium Commercial Vehicles up to 12.5t, Sweepers up to 18.5t and Heavy Goods Vehicles up to 44t (22 suppliers)
• Lot 4: Car and Light Commercial Vehicle long-term and flexible rental >365 days (10 suppliers)
• Lot 5: Car clubs and pool car schemes, including travel management systems and packages (4 suppliers)

The new provision of lot 4 supports the government’s ‘Road to Zero’ strategy, by offering a highly flexible solution for long-term flexible rental from 365 days upwards. Many fleets face challenges when entering into traditional long term fixed contracts, with internal pressure to adopt EVs, without the infrastructure to support them. 

TPPL’s flexible rental solution provides public sector bodies with the ability to transition to electric vehicles at their own pace without entering long term fixed contracts, whilst managing existing fleet demands or financial challenges they may face, given the current turbulent and unpredictable economy .

Lot 5 provides public bodies with environmental benefits by offering, for the first time, car clubs and pool car schemes that include travel management and smart mobility solutions. The flexible bespoke options available to buyers help reduce unnecessary journeys and maximise economic returns by improving vehicle utilisation using strategic deployment methods of vehicles, which emit much lower emissions than current grey fleet vehicles and older pool car fleets.

The key benefits of lot 5:

• Advanced technology to facilitate on-demand booking and tracking systems, allowing owners to manage and monitor staff usage
• Dedicated pool cars with an option for the cars to be exclusively available to an organisation; including a restriction to certain hours
• A reduction in resource time by having quick and easy access to vehicle usage compared to traditional ‘grey fleet’ administration – reducing associated costs from mileage claims
• Access to newer, more efficient vehicles including zero or low emission pool cars to reduce carbon footprint