The supplier will source and ship Bikeability materials and will be expected to donate some profits to the £11m training scheme

Supplier sought for 250,000 Bikeability badges

Transport consultancy firm Steer Davies Gleave has put out to tender the materials sourcing programme for Bikeability. Contractors have until Friday to express an interest, with a full bid submitted by 18th January.

The supply contract starts in February. The winning bidder will have to buy the existing materials for £175,000. Thereafter it would be responsible for sourcing, selling and shipping the materials to local authorities and Bikeability businesses.

Bikeability was formerly run by Cycling England for the Department for Transport. Earlier this year the contract was picked up by Steer Davies Gleave, aided by Cycle Training Alliance, a new entity comprising three of the individuals responsible for Bikeability when it was run by Cycling England.

Steer Davies Gleave has now put the materials supply part of the contract out to tender, and said:

"It is expected that the contractor will generate profit from the sale of Bikeability materials. Bidders should include proposals for returning a share of this profit to the Bikeability scheme. The shared profit will be reinvested in the Bikeability scheme. The scale of bidders’ proposed profit shares will be a significant factor in the evaluation of bids."

In the year 2011/12, the DfT cycle training grant fund made £11m available at the rate of £40 per child training place. This is equivalent to 275,000 children.

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