Official UK procurement notice
Home to School Replacement Bus Framework
Authority: The Education Authority (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionEA is currently preparing to initiate the procurement process to set up a 4 year framework for the replacement of Home to School Buses.
Currently no funding for fleet replacement is in place. EA are currently preparing a business case for a school bus replacement programme to a maximum value of up to £49m over four years, which will be subject to various approvals. Funding values may vary per annum, or no funding award may available. There is no guarantee of the level of business during the period of the framework or to the exact value of any subsequent Purchase Orders.
It is anticipated that the framework will be split into lots for each vehicle type. When EA receives funding to replace buses, it is intended that a secondary competition will be run from the framework for each vehicle type required. EA will reserve the right to prioritise which vehicle types are required in line with operational needs.
A provisional indication of potential lots are as follows:
Mainstream school buses:
22 passenger seat van conversion
33 passenger seat coach built bus
57 passenger seat coach built bus
Special Educational Needs school buses
16 passenger seat / 2 wheelchair van conversion minibus
22 passenger seat / 6 wheelchair coach built bus
28 passenger seat / 8 wheelchair coach built bus
All bus types and quantities are subject to funding.
All EA school buses must be fully seated Class 3 category buses with no standing capacity and built to full EA specifications in every aspect.
All buses in this particular framework must be diesel combustion engine vehicles. Zero emission buses are out of scope in this framework.
Public/Service bus specifications are not suitable for EA home to school transport.
EA are interested in feedback regarding development of vehicle designs to accommodate EA requirements.
CPV: Articulated buses · Bus bodies · Bus bodies, ambulance bodies and vehicle bodies for goods vehicles · Buses and coaches · Coaches · Low-floor buses · Motor vehicles · Motor vehicles for the transport of 10 or more persons · Public-service buses · Vehicle bodies · Vehicle bodies, trailers or semi-trailers
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 4 yrs from 1 Aug 2026
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedWhat 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).
- “Home to School Replacement Bus Framework” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How the Education Authority buys Motor vehicles for the transport of 10 or more persons (CPV 3412), and who usually turns up
the Education Authority’s published record next to the market for the same work. Compared with other frameworks and DPS only. Whole-market view: Motor vehicles for the transport of 10 or more persons (CPV 3412) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Northern Ireland (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 49 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid0% / 0%
2–30% / 14%
4–638% / 14%
7+63% / 71%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Not comparable on a framework or DPS: the price is set later, on each call-off.
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 34Published estimate£4.9m
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 34. The comparison uses that group.
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 34 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid41%
2–326%
4–615%
7+18%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 14 May 2026, 17:51 BST
- Last source update
- 14 May 2026, 17:51 BST
- Authority reference
TRN-26-008- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-044628- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06994aFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
14 May 2026 → 1 Aug 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published163 days ago14 May 2026, 17:51 BST
- Market engagement142 days ago4 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
The Education Authority Northern Ireland (EANI) would like to invite participation in a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise to seek the views of the market for the supply of buses. The purpose of this PME exercise is for EANI to gain an understanding of the latest developments and innovative solutions available and will be used to assist EANI in gaining a better understanding of the feasibility of the requirements, the most appropriate procurement and operational approach, the capacity of the market to deliver the requirements and an opportunity for the market to highlight any possible risks or issues. For the avoidance of doubt, this is the scoping phase of the project and is not part of any formal procurement process and there is no commitment at this stage to carry out such a process. Any information gathered will not be considered in any future tender exercise. Please note that participation or non-participation in this PME exercise shall not prevent any supplier from participating in any future procurement process, nor is it intended that any information provided shall place any supplier at an advantage or disadvantage in any future procurement exercise. Further information including the questionnaire can be downloaded from the documents section of the CfT on eTendersNI. Suppliers who wish to participate in the PME exercise must return the completed questionnaire via the messaging function of the CfT on eTendersNI no later than 15:00 on 4 June 2026.
- Tender notice expected110 days ago6 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts85 days ago1 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published14 May 2026, 17:51 BSTUK2
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender