Official UK procurement notice
Docklands Light Railway Technical Support and Spares Agreement
Authority: Transport for London (Public body)
Sectors: Repair & Maintenance (50) Delivery: North East (UKC)North West (UKD)Yorkshire & Humber (UKE)
Awarded value£3,574,097published award · exc. VAT
Awarded 5 Sept 2025no call for competition
Awarded to GROUND TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS UK LIMITED
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionTechnical support and spares provision for the signalling system deployed on the Docklands Light Railway network.
The Contract length will be 3 years with an option to extend by up to 1 year.
The scope of the Service provisions includes:
- Hitachi technical office support
- Seltrac Failure Notice investigations
- Maintenance support
- System Monitoring
- Technical Training and Mentoring
- Spares and Repairs Service
- Asset life roadmap support
- Obsolescence management support
- Cyber security provisions.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedProcedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Direct award
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 5 Aug 2025, 13:37 BST
- Last source update
- 27 Oct 2025, 11:35 GMT
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-068493- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05817cFind a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Intellectual Property Exclusive Rights; Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
- Published justification
The reasons for a single source award pursuant to the direct award justifications set out in paragraph 5 of Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 are as follows:
- Hitachi is the only supplier capable of providing the required services to maintain the DLR signalling system as they own the intellectual property rights (IPR) in that system, including the hardware and software for all signalling sub-systems.
- The DLR signalling system is a bespoke and complex system designed for the DLR. No other operator has the IPR (including access to the source code of the system software), expertise or knowledge required to provide the technical support services for the signalling system. TfL has no contractual right to access the source code for the software and associated IPR.
- Hitachi will not permit others to access or maintain its software as this would invalidate the safety assurances given by Hitachi, in its capacity as the signalling design authority, that the system is and continues to be fit for purpose and safe to operate.
- For the reasons explained above, there are no reasonable alternatives to the services required from Hitachi under the support agreement.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
26 Sept 2025 → 27 Oct 2025 · 2 dates- Standstill ends391 days ago26 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Notice published361 days ago27 Oct 2025, 11:35 GMT
Notice history
4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 5 Aug 2025- Transparency notice published5 Aug 2025, 13:37 BSTUK5
- Contract award notice published17 Sept 2025, 15:35 BSTUK6
- Contract signature expected30 Sept 2025, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published27 Oct 2025, 11:35 GMTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecastAwards 1
Awarded value £3,574,0971 award exc. VAT
Contracts signed 1latest 29 Sept 2025
| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| GROUND TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS UK LIMITED1 Oct 2025 – 1 Oct 2028 · up to 1 Oct 2029Extensions: There is currently an ongoing wider business strategy to develop a signalling framework. The proposed framework will cover the services provided by this Contract within the framework maintenance scope. The option to extend will be used in the event the framework is delayed. · Options: - Additional Seltrac Failure Notice (SFNs) Investigations: The Contract includes a number of SFN investigation as part of the core services however as an optional service, additional SFN investigation can be purchased from the Supplier. - Sub-System Technical Specialist Engineer: As an optional service, subsystem technical specialist engineers can provide expert consultation in their respective technical domains, which may include hardware and software design, systems engineering, System Operations (SysOps), Data Communications System (DCS), tools development, Independent Verification and Validation Qualification (IVVQ), safety engineering, and technical compliance. - Technical training and monitoring: Optional service if required for staff training on the supplier designed and deployed signalling system and associated sub-systems used on the network. Additional options may also include but are not limited to: - Delivery of Cyber Security Patching - Software Support - Design Support. | £3,574,097 | 5 Sept 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · GROUND TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS UK LIMITED
- Signed
- 29 Sept 2025
- Value
- £3,574,097
- Period
- 1 Oct 2025 – 1 Oct 2028 · up to 1 Oct 2029 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- There is currently an ongoing wider business strategy to develop a signalling framework. The proposed framework will cover the services provided by this Contract within the framework maintenance scope. The option to extend will be used in the event the framework is delayed.
- Options
- The right to additional purchases while the contract is valid. - Additional Seltrac Failure Notice (SFNs) Investigations: The Contract includes a number of SFN investigation as part of the core services however as an optional service, additional SFN investigation can be purchased from the Supplier. - Sub-System Technical Specialist Engineer: As an optional service, subsystem technical specialist engineers can provide expert consultation in their respective technical domains, which may include hardware and software design, systems engineering, System Operations (SysOps), Data Communications System (DCS), tools development, Independent Verification and Validation Qualification (IVVQ), safety engineering, and technical compliance. - Technical training and monitoring: Optional service if required for staff training on the supplier designed and deployed signalling system and associated sub-systems used on the network. Additional options may also include but are not limited to: - Delivery of Cyber Security Patching - Software Support - Design Support.
No agreed KPIs: Contract is below £5 million including VAT.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- HITACHI RAIL GTS UK LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender