Official UK procurement notice
Flags, Poles, Timetable Frames and Posting of Timetables
Authority: Essex County Council (Local council)
What is being bought2 lots · detail below
Published requirement descriptionEssex County Council ('the Authority') is seeking to procure the supply, installation and maintenance of Flags, Poles and Timetables Frames (Bus Infrastructure), plus the continued frequency of Printed Timetable Posting.
N.B PLEASE NOTE - this Contract Award Notice is a reissue to correct minor issues in the previous Award Notice. Therefore the contracts listed as '3' and '4' in this notice, are instead the replacements for '1' and '2' in the previous notice. The award remains the same, and the standstill dates have been revised accordingly.
CPV: Bus shelters · Flags · Installation services of flagpoles · Poles · Timetables · Transport services (excl. Waste transport)
Lots and requirements (2)Procurement structure
2 lots · all with a published value (£3,552,900 together) · same evaluation weights on every lotLot #1Flags, Poles and Timetable FramesAwardedRenewalPublished value£2,925,000
- The supply and delivery of Essex standard Bus Stop poles, Bus Stop flags and timetable cases.
- Maintenance of Bus Stop poles, Bus Stop flags, and timetable cases at Bus Stops.
- The installation/replacement of Bus Stop poles, flags, and timetable cases at Bus Stops and minor works including but not limited to cutting back of vegetation and removal of old infrastructure of poles, flags and timetable cases.
- Site surveys of Bus Stops.
- Obtaining all consent, permits and permissions necessary to carry out the Service including but not limited to obtaining permits to work on the highway and ensuring waste is disposed of in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
- Storage of Bus Stop poles, Bus Stop flags and timetable cases that have been removed from a Bus Stop pending installation at a new location.
- Disposal of Bus Stop poles, Bus Stop flags and timetable cases that have been removed from a Bus Stop and cannot be reused.
- Shelters are managed separately, but where a shelter requires a new/replacement flag or timetable case the work will be undertaken by this Lot.
Lot #2Posting of TimetablesAwardedRenewalPublished value£627,900
- Receiving bus stop timetables at an agreed location.
- Strategically plan the posting of these bus stop timetables.
- Visiting bus stops and posting artworks to frames, where necessary reporting back to the Local Authority of any access issues.
- Reporting on work completed.
The scope of the project is to coordinate the posting of up-to 7,000 printed timetables to fit bus stop frames in Essex.
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 (4)
- Technical Response: 20%
- Climate: 5%
- Commercial Response: 70%
- Social Value: 5%
Published award criteria (4)
- Commercial Response
- Technical Response
- Social Value
- Climate
- Price carries 70 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 7 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 1 Apr 2025, 13:41 BST
- Last source update
- 16 Feb 2026, 11:59 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 19 Jan 2026
- Authority reference
PL0105- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-073692- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04fb4fFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 18 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 11 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
PL0105 Flags, Poles, Timetable Frames and Posting of Timetables at procontract.due-north.com/Login ↗.
Timeline
1 Apr 2025 → 1 Apr 2026 · 11 dates- Planning notice published1 Apr 2025, 13:41 BST
- Market engagement21 Apr 2025, 23:59 BST
This is a market engagement process for the procurement of flags, poles and timetables frames, plus the continued frequency of printed timetable posting alongside the 7 change dates for the entire County of Essex.
To support with this process, we are requesting information from relevant organisations to help us define our requirements. Therefore we would like you to provide responses to the below questionnaire.
Please click on the link below to complete the market engagement questions.
- Next notice expected389 days ago1 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST
- Tender notice published346 days ago13 Nov 2025, 16:23 GMT
- Clarification questions by319 days ago11 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT
- Submission deadline312 days ago18 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT
- Award decision expected by279 days ago19 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Assessment summaries sent252 days ago16 Feb 2026
- Latest notice published252 days ago16 Feb 2026, 11:59 GMT
- Standstill ends242 days ago25 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts208 days ago1 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
14 events · 5 releases on Find a Tender · since 1 Apr 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published1 Apr 2025, 13:41 BSTUK2
- Pipeline notice published12 Jun 2025, 14:15 BSTUK1
- Published value published: £2,500,00012 Jun 2025, 14:15 BST
- Status changed to planned12 Jun 2025, 14:15 BST
- Tender notice published13 Nov 2025, 16:23 GMTUK4
- Published value updated to £3,552,90013 Nov 2025, 16:23 GMTwas £2,500,000
- Status changed to active13 Nov 2025, 16:23 GMT
- Procurement method changed13 Nov 2025, 16:23 GMT
- Deadline published: 18 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT13 Nov 2025, 16:23 GMT
- Contract award notice published13 Feb 2026, 16:03 GMTUK6
- Status changed to complete13 Feb 2026, 16:03 GMT
- Contract award notice published16 Feb 2026, 11:59 GMTUK6
- Contract signature expected2 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract signature expected3 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
Routine re-releases (5)
- 2025-06: 1 release · 12 Jun 2025
- 2025-04: 1 release · 1 Apr 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lot 1 · Flags, Poles and Timetable Frames2 awards | |||
| Externiture LtdSME1 Apr 2026 – 30 Jun 2034 · up to 1 Jul 2039Extensions: One extension available of five years. | £3,292,424 | 16 Feb 2026standstill to 25 Feb 2026 | Standstill |
| Externiture LtdSME1 Apr 2026 – 30 Jun 2034 · up to 1 Jul 2039Extensions: One extension available of five years. | £4,741,200 | 13 Feb 2026standstill to 24 Feb 2026 | Standstill |
| Lot 2 · Posting of Timetables2 awards | |||
| TRANSPORT MADE SIMPLE LIMITED1 Jun 2026 – 30 Jun 2034 · up to 1 Jul 2039Extensions: One extension available of five years. | £879,200 | 16 Feb 2026standstill to 25 Feb 2026 | Standstill |
| TRANSPORT MADE SIMPLE LIMITED1 Apr 2026 – 30 Jun 2034 · up to 1 Jul 2039Extensions: One extension available of five years. | £921,524 | 13 Feb 2026standstill to 24 Feb 2026 | Standstill |
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Lot | Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Flags, Poles and Timetable Frames | 3final-stage tenders | 3 | 0 | — |
| 2 · Posting of Timetables | 2final-stage tenders | 0 | 0 | — |
Who bid
- wonEXTERNITURE LIMITEDSME · South East England · 1
- did not winA K HOBSON LIMITED · East of England · 1
- did not winTRUEFORM ENGINEERING LIMITEDSME · Greater London · 1
Bidders as named on the Procurement Act 2023 award notice. “Won” means the bidder holds an award on this notice.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
4 commercial parties on the notice · 2 awarded- A K HOBSON LIMITEDBidder / tenderer
- EXTERNITURE LIMITEDAwarded supplier
- TRANSPORT MADE SIMPLE LIMITEDAwarded supplier
- TRUEFORM ENGINEERING LIMITEDBidder / tenderer
Official documents & specifications (7)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender