The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Developments wants to operate a shuttle service for employees between its three main buildings, two of which are only a three-minute walk apart.

The department outlined the plan for the dedicated shuttle service in a tender posted earlier this month on a government website.

The tender calls for three vehicles, each able to seat six passengers, that would ferry DFATD employees between the Lester B. Pearson Building at 111 Sussex Dr., the John G. Diefenbaker Building at 125 Sussex Dr. and 200 Promenade du Portage in Gatineau, where the former Canadian International Development Agency offices are located.

The tender document says the government's 2013 decision to amalgamate CIDA and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to create DFATD provided "an opportunity" to implement the shuttle service.

According to the tender, the service will run between the three locations 10 hours a day, Monday to Friday. Each location must be serviced at 20-minute intervals or less, it says.

Though the tender is for an eight-month pilot project, it includes a government option to extend the contract by up to four additional one-year periods.

In an email, DFATD spokesman John Babcock said the service is primarily for employees travelling frequently between the two Sussex Drive buildings and the office in Gatineau.

Babcock said the service is expected to reduce travel expenses between the buildings, but did not say by how much.

"In supporting the decision to pilot the shuttle service, we considered the notable success of Environment Canada's Envirobus program," Babcock said.

The Envirobus, which has been operating for several years, carries Environment Canada employees between the department's three headquarters buildings in the National Capital Region.

It was singled out for commendation by the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development in the 2013 auditor general's report for reducing reliance on taxis and personal vehicles.

In addition to the Envirobus, the government has long provided a fleet of green shuttle buses to carry parliamentarians to buildings within a four-block radius of Parliament Hill.

The cost of that service is a closely guarded secret. But in 2011, Board of Internal Economy minutes showed that it had jumped by more than $500,000 because the buses had to ferry passengers to slightly more distant offices as a result of renovations on Parliament Hill.

Babcock said the proposed service has also received "positive feedback" from DFATD employees as an initiative that supports the department's ongoing amalgamation efforts.

Bidders will be assessed on seven different criteria, including vehicle model and age, rate of fuel consumption, frequency of service and the ability of drivers to speak both official languages.

Drivers, who will be required to record the number of passengers they carry and trips they make, must be courteous and professional and dress in clothes that are "clean and suitable for a business environment," the tender says.

The contractor and all other personnel involved in the work also need to have security screening at the level of "enhanced reliability status," it says, because the work involves possible access to classified or protected locations.