2022-10-11 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                              11 OCTOBER 2022


requested pricing be submitted for 10, 15 and 20 year timeframes, to allow Council to determine
the best financial option.
A key tender component required respondents to submit a Service Plan outlining their ability to
meet the specified scope, supply new technologies and innovations, as well as provide their
commitment to high quality service delivery.
4.   Tender Process
Council released the tender via the VendorPanel e-portal on 31 May 2022 and advertised the
tender on its website on 1 June 2022 and in the Noosa Today newspaper published on 10 June
2022. The tender material was viewed or downloaded by 28 parties. A non-compulsory site
inspection was conducted with 5 businesses on 22 June 2022. Tender submissions closed on
31 August 2022. Council issued responses to 28 queries fielded at the site inspection and via
VendorPanel through the tender period.
Five conforming tender submissions were received from three respondents through
VendorPanel from the following businesses:
    Divers Den Investments Pty Ltd (Entrada Travel Group) (two tenders)
    The Noofer Unit Trust trading as Noosa-North Shore Ferries
    KBRV Services Pty Ltd (Kelsian Group Ltd trading as Sealink Travel Group) (two tenders)
Key details of the 5 submissions are as follows:
1.   Divers Den Investments Pty Ltd (Entrada Travel Group) – Tender A, Smaller Ferry Option
     Divers Den Investments (DDI) is part of the Entrada Travel Group, which is New Zealand’s
     largest passenger transport company. The group operates a number of bus, tour, cruise,
     dive and ferry operations. It operates 2 vehicle ferries and a passenger ferry at 3 locations
     in New Zealand, as well as the Daintree River vehicle ferry for Douglas Shire Council. It
     also operates various cruise and dive vessels in Australia and New Zealand and Cairns’
     tourist information centres. Overall the group runs a commercial marine fleet of 14 vessels
     and demonstrates experience in marine transport operation.
     DDI’s Tender A proposes 2 x 12 vehicle ferries, to be newly constructed for the contract
     and having diesel engine propulsion. A full suite of digital payment, ticketing, information
     and application platforms is proposed, with these in use by in the respondent’s existing
     business operations and demonstrated as fit for purpose. The 20% increase in vessel
     vehicle capacity provides improvements in overall handling capacity that would be
     beneficial to the service. DDI proposes to fully offset ferry carbon emissions through
     Greenfleet, which is delivering Noosa’s Yurol Forest revegetation project.
2.   Divers Den Investments Pty Ltd (Entrada Travel Group) – Tender B, Larger Ferry Option
     DDI’s Tender B proposes 1 x 12 vehicle and 1 x 27 vehicle ferries, to be newly constructed
     for the contract and having diesel engine propulsion. Most other technology, service
     delivery, business structure and emissions offsets aspects remain common to its Tender
     A proposal but this tender poses significant advantages by way of vehicle capacity (95%
     increase in vessel vehicle capacity over the existing service) and overall handling
     capacity. At 27 vehicles the single larger ferry exceeds the capacity of both existing ferries
     by 35% and would eliminate most vehicle queuing issues, allowing DDI to operate only 1
     ferry to comfortably meet service KPI’s for all but the busiest times of the year and to
     significantly simplify the service’s staffing and rostering needs. Overall, this will provide a
     streamlined operation that removes uncertainties for customers.
3.   The Noofer Unit Trust trading as Noosa-North Shore Ferries (NNSF) - Existing Ferries
     Noosa North Shore ferries is the incumbent ferry operator and has operated the service
     continuously since 1999. It proposes to reuse its existing vessels, being 2 x 10 vehicle
     ferries having diesel engine propulsion.         NNSF’s submission outlines planned
     refurbishment and like-for-like replacement of vessels through the life of the contract. As

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