Official UK procurement notice
Bus Franchising - Farnworth Small Franchise
Authority: Transport for Greater Manchester (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionFollowing the implementation of bus franchising across Greater Manchester, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), on behalf of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), is seeking an Operator to provide bus passenger services for the Farnworth Small Franchise from March 2027, with an estimated Peak Vehicle Requirement (PVR) of 7.
Note the scope, figures, dates, and contract or framework durations included in this Notice are provisional only, and are subject to funding approvals and governance approvals, and may be subject to change as the requirement developments.
TfGM reserves the right to vary or cancel this notice at any point as the project develops.
TfGM use the e-tendering portal Pro-Contract to manage high value procurement activity. Details on how to register can be found at procontract.due-north.com/register ↗
- How the procedure runs: TfGM are seeking to engage with potential suppliers who wish to become a Franchise Operator. Through this procurement process suppliers will be required to provide and pass a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) including Conditions of Participation. Any successful Bidders who have successfully passed the PSQ phase will qualify to participate in the subsequent stages of the procurement (the Invitation to Negotiation stage and final tender submission). Further detail on the proposed award criteria and tender process will be made available through market engagement and subsequently the tender notice and PSQ documentation. However, this may be subject to change during this competitive flexible procedure. The tender documents will be made available on the Pro-Contract E-Tendering portal (https://procontract.due-north.com/register) in July 2025.
CPV: Public road transport services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewalPublished value£12,857,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Technical Assessment: 60%
- Price: 40%
Published award criteria (2)
- Technical Assessment: The award criteria maybe subject to change as per Section 24 of the Procurement Act 2023.
- Price: The award criteria maybe subject to change as per Section 24 of the Procurement Act 2023.
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Past planning notice
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 15 May 2025, 15:26 BST
- Last source update
- 23 May 2025, 15:01 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 22 Jun 2026
- Authority reference
DN773100- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-026637- Latest notice
- Pipeline notice (UK1)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0514c8Find a Tender
- How it runs
TfGM are seeking to engage with potential suppliers who wish to become a Franchise Operator. Through this procurement process suppliers will be required to provide and pass a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) including Conditions of Participation. Any successful Bidders who have successfully passed the PSQ phase will qualify to participate in the subsequent stages of the procurement (the Invitation to Negotiation stage and final tender submission).
Further detail on the proposed award criteria and tender process will be made available through market engagement and subsequently the tender notice and PSQ documentation. However, this may be subject to change during this competitive flexible procedure.
The tender documents will be made available on the Pro-Contract E-Tendering portal (procontract.due-north.com/register ↗) in July 2025.
How it was run
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 11 Aug 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline
- 11 Aug 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Upon publication of the tender notice, Tenders should be submitted via the ProContract procurement portal. Suppliers can register for free using the following link: procontract.due-north.com/Register ↗.
Upon registration, suppliers can access the opportunity via the following project reference: DN773100
Timeline
15 May 2025 → 7 Mar 2027 · 7 dates- Planning notice published15 May 2025, 15:26 BST
- Latest notice published23 May 2025, 15:01 BST
- Market engagement27 Jun 2025, 23:59 BST
Operators will be invited to attend an online Market Engagement Webinar whereby TfGM will provide an overview of the franchise requirements and the procurement process.
Operators wishing to attend this Webinar should provide the name(s), position and email addresses of attendees by the 27th May 2025 12.00 noon.
Please note this will not be interactive, however, the webinar will be recorded and the recording will be made available via the ProContract portal.
Following the Market Engagement Webinar, TfGM will issue a short questionnaire requesting feedback from potential bidders alongside the recording of the Market Engagement session. Deadline for responses will be 11th June 2025.
Should operators have any queries, please raise a clarification question via ProContract messaging service by 9th June 2025. TfGM will respond to all Market Engagement questions by the 23rd June 2025.
TfGM intends to send the Tender notice on the 7th July 2025. There will be a supplier Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) process in order to get through to final tender submission. This will be explained in the Market Engagement Webinar.
- Tender notice expected7 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Submission deadline11 Aug 2025, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected by124 days ago22 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today25 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 133 days7 Mar 2027
Notice history
4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 15 May 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published15 May 2025, 15:26 BSTUK2
- Planned procurement notice published15 May 2025, 15:37 BSTUK3
- Procurement method changed15 May 2025, 15:37 BST
- Pipeline notice published23 May 2025, 15:01 BSTUK1
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender