Contracted Transport Services

Staffordshire County Council are considering their commissioning intentions and options in the future provision of transport, using Hackney Carriages, Private Hire Vehicles and Passenger Carrying Vehicles (PCV) for children and young people in mainstream education, children and adults with Special Educational Needs (SEN), learning disabilities, physical and sensory disabilities, and mental health issues and the general public. There may be a requirement for Passenger Assistants on SEN transport provision dependant on the needs of the passenger. In addition the Council is also considering options in the future provision of Local Services, this provides local bus services, demand responsive or dial-a-ride services either as a shared taxi service or registered flexible bus service. This local service allows the general public to access townships and marketplaces. The responses submitted as part of this PME will provide information and feedback on supplier's views on the development of possible future arrangements, how they may work and also the level of interest in the tendering activity that will follow. Responding to the questions and providing feedback at this stage is not part of any formal tender process and your feedback will not be scored in any way. Your feedback will be considered when developing and reviewing any service specification, developing the tender documents and pulling together the contract documents and any relevant schedules that cover the processes, policies and operation of the arrangement. It is anticipated that any formal procurement process which may follow will be in Spring/Summer 2027. It is anticipated that the budget will be between a combined value of £42.4m consisting of £33.4m home to school transport and £9m local service per annum (excluding VAT). There are currently 5,233 pupils traveling on 1,205 contracted routes. The total number of pupils that are eligible for a form of transport is 9,066 and includes those that have access to Personal Travel Budgets (PTB), petrol allowances or local bus passes, which will not be delivered through the current Dynamic Purchasing System or any future replacement arrangement. How to get involved and where to send the responses to; We would like suppliers to provide feedback to a specific questionnaire which can be found here https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/ZtLXdM4Qey Alternatively you can request a Word version of the Questionnaire by emailing commercial.team@staffordshire.gov.uk requesting the IA3890 PME Questionnaire. Reply with completed Questionnaire(s)with "IA3890 PME" in the email title. Please respond with your feedback by Wednesday 30th September 2026 at the latest. In preparation for the formal process we strongly encourage suppliers to register on the Central Digital Platform https://www.gov.uk/find-tender in advance as this will be required for the procurement process to come. It would also be helpful if suppliers are registered on the SCC's electronic tendering system Proactis https://supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/Account/Login as this will be where the tender documents will be available when ready. This system is used for all SCC tendering processes.