Environment & Infrastructure had put together draft tender documents for the service in March, but said that progress was thwarted by the impact of Covid-19.
In December 2018, the States agreed that an inspection regime would be introduced in phases to comply with international standards and ensure local vehicles could continue to drive off-island after Brexit.
The first inspections, for vehicles heading overseas, should be in place by 31 March next year, with testing of domestic vehicles starting no later than April 2023 from the oldest first and by 2025 a full regime should be in place.
States Works was initially given a contract to inspect public service vehicles from August 2019 until December 2022, but there has been a change of decision.
‘Having given further consideration to the most appropriate means of assessing and then procuring an appropriate inspection facility for Guernsey it was decided that a more practical approach would be to invite interested parties to tender directly for all or some of the categories of vehicle testing required and to detail the method of testing and the associated benefits of that proposed solution as part of that bid.
‘Draft tender documents were initially put together in March of this year but progression was thwarted by the impacts on the States of Covid-19,’ E&I said.
‘It is anticipated that tender documents will be issued in September and tenderers will be asked as part of this process to consider how the Phase 2 timeframe requirements might be met, possibly as part of an interim arrangement before establishing a more robust inspection regime to deal with the significantly larger volumes of vehicles to be processed annually under Phase 3 from the end of March 2023.’
The timetable for testing was agreed with the UK’s Department of Transport as part of an international agreement.
It is intended that the inspection service is fully self-funding, but the skills do not exist in enough numbers on island at the moment.
‘It is acknowledged that additional suitably qualified mechanics would be required in order to provide this inspection service. This should be viewed very much as an economic opportunity for businesses and comes at a time when the island is looking to revitalise its economy as part of its Revive and Thrive Strategy.’
E&I was answering written questions posed by Deputy Peter Roffey.
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