This mandate should take into account the concrete ambition of (local) authorities to implement “smart” policies, as a result of new technologies, in response to new contemporary challenges. Inspired, even encouraged by initiatives such as the Covenant of Mayors, UN Vision 2050 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) programme, drive the delivery of sustainability goals and the reduction of their CB2 emissions in particular.
Tangible smart city policies develop projects that promote mobility, waste management and safety in the local context. But also with initiatives on citizenship, volunteering and the promotion of the local and circular economy, they are driving a better society, often thanks to the deployment of smart technology.
Sustainable policy support projects should also be implemented in a sustainable way. To do so, they want to have a workable and affordable instrument that allows not only to deter damage, nuisance and unwanted conduct, and to impose penalties (municipal administrative), if necessary. At the same time, they can use a meaningful reward system to effectively stimulate the positive contribution of a wide range of stakeholders. These initiatives are typically developed bottom-up with local policy focus and strong involvement of actors in the local economy.
In order to avoid the development of the concrete projects (known here “use cases”) as a ‘silo solution’, this contract aims to create an open platform where synergies between related solutions can be exploited to the maximum, thereby enabling them to be substantially part of a coherent smart city policy.
An open platform is meant to avoid vendor lock-in and allow access to the platform by other providers of relevant services at all times. The contractor should also support the open data strategy of the participating administrations and should facilitate a seamless transition to a new generation of solutions at the end of the contract.
The contracting authority wishes to acquire a real and operational solution from the start. This contract is not a software development project, even if it is just as well designed to “enrich” the platform with new concrete use cases. In order to prove operational availability at the outset, the contractor will be able to provide, together with the platform, a number of “use cases”. Those first uses refer to a number of popular, concrete scenarios. for example, many municipalities and/or plaice communities want to promote cycling to school by awarding bonuses per registered journey or km to the cyclist. An established smart city solution is also expected to support a traffic guidance project. The ambition goes beyond the posting of free car parks but aims at an active dialogue with the visitor. Smart cameras should be able to monitor low emission zones and curb unauthorised access to low-traffic streets. The successful tenderer should also be able to effectively achieve smart landfill reduction solutions and environmental consumers should be able to appropriately reward measurable energy and waste savings.
In addition to achieving the projects, the contractor shall be deemed to take appropriate responsibility for the operation of the supporting platform (s).