For the procurement of 500 electric and fuel cell buses in Italy are 8 manufacturers chosen as preferred supplier. The choice has made by issuing a tender earlier this year by the Italian procurement agency 'Consip'. The lucky winners are: Karsan, TAM, Ebusco, Solaris, Iveco Bus, BYD, Otokar and Industria Italiana Autobus. For Ebusco it can be the foothold on Italian soil.
In total the 500 electric and fuel cell buses represent a value of 327 million euros. The possible order is divided into 4 lots. Slovenian manufacturer TAM has been awarded the first lot together with Karsan, for a total of 150 battery-electric midibuses with a length between 7 and 8 meters. The second lot is about suburban buses in Class I and is 250 units big for which Otokar, Solaris, Iveco, BYD, Karsan and Ebusco are selected. The total number of buses rewarded under this suburban lot is 250 buses over the next 18 months with a possible extension of 6 months. The third part of this possible order covers 70 Class II e-buses for which BYD, Iveco and Karsan are selected. The last part, 30 Fuel Cell buses, is awarded to Solaris, Karsan and Industria Italiana Autobus. This procurement order is best described as a Framework Agreement, in which Consip has
selected the supplier with the criterion of the most economically advantageous offer. For instance because of its election by Consip Ebusco is able to offer the Ebusco 2.2 to Italian authorities and operators without the need for the authorities to issue a European tender. If operators want to deviate from the standardised configuration, they can issue a mini tender to the selected OEMs. If Ebusco is granted an order under this Consip-agreement it will be their first one in Italy. Consip is the National Public Administration Procurement Center of Italy which enables local governments to perform public purchases while stimulating a competitive participation of bidders in public tenders. The Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) is the sole shareholder of Consip.