Provision of International Driving Permit Services

DVLA invites tenders for the provision of International Driving Permit Services on a national (UK wide) basis. The service is currently outsourced; the current service provision with the incumbent supplier expires on the 31 March 2027.
The requirements for the services that shall be provided by the successful Supplier include:
• The ability for UK driving licence holders to transact in-person.
• Widespread coverage across England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland.
• The capability to issue approximately 270,000 permits per annum.
• Provide service availability of 48 hours per week across all service locations, spread over 6 days to cater for a range of customers.
The Contract will be for an initial term of 3 years and 4 months (see the Procurement Timetable in the Invitation to Tender for detail) which shall be comprised of:
• a period of 4 months, or such other period as the Authority deems necessary, from the Effective Date for the delivery of an Implementation Plan (termed the “Mobilisation and Transition Period”), followed by
• the period commencing from the end of the Mobilisation & Transition Period until the expiry of the contract term.
No driving permits will be issued (and therefore no revenue generation) under this Contract during the Mobilisation and Transition Period.
The fee for an International Driving Permit (IDP) is £5.50. This fee is set in legislation, and service provider must be able to deliver the IDP service based on retaining the full £5.50 fee paid by the customer; there will be no additional supplement to the fee by DVLA or the customer. This equates to a potential £4.5M of income for the service provider over the proposed contract term.
DVLA’s position is that this procurement falls below the legislative threshold for a concession contract. Therefore, it is classified as a non-regulated procurement under the Procurement Act 2023, and the rules applicable to regulated concession contracts do not apply for this procurement. Although...