Official UK procurement notice
EMR Lease of x2 Class 221 Units
Authority: TRANSPORT UK EAST MIDLANDS LIMITED (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionTransport UK East Midlands Limited (EMR) intends to enter into a short-term operating hire of two Class 221 passenger rolling-stock units, including maintenance, technical support and daily fitness-to-run certification, for use on East Midlands Railway passenger services from 26 October 2026 to 28 February 2027.
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
- Utilities
- 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
- 14 Oct 2026, 17:23 BST
- Last source update
- 14 Oct 2026, 17:40 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097232- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078803Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Technical Reasons; Urgency
- Published justification
Schedule 5, paragraph 6: absence of competition for technical reasons. The contract is being directly awarded on the basis that, due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only the selected supplier is able to provide the required Class 221 services and there are no reasonable alternatives capable of meeting the requirement.
Schedule 5, paragraphs 13 and 14: extreme and unavoidable urgency. The required services are strictly necessary for reasons of extreme and unavoidable urgency and the timescales do not permit the contract to be awarded through a competitive tendering procedure. The circumstances giving rise to the urgency were not attributable to an act or omission of the contracting authority and could not reasonably have been foreseen.
Notice history
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 14 Oct 2026- Transparency notice published14 Oct 2026, 17:23 BSTUK5
- Contract award notice published14 Oct 2026, 17:40 BSTUK6
- Contract signature expected26 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| GRAND CENTRAL RAILWAY COMPANY LIMITED26 Oct 2026 – 28 Feb 2027 · up to 7 Apr 2027Extensions: An extension option is included to allow the contract term to be extended up to 7 April 2027 if required to maintain continuity of the services. | £5,679,705 | 14 Oct 2026 | Awarded |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- GRAND CENTRAL RAILWAY COMPANY LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender