Official UK procurement notice
NEX26/45 Bus Scheduling System
Authority: Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive T/A Nexus (Public body)
To procure a bus scheduling system (to include blocking) which will replace current manual spreadsheet methods with an automated, digital system that optimises routes and vehicles resources improving overall data accuracy and linking with existing business systems. Project Objectives.
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionProject Aim
To procure a bus scheduling system (to include blocking) which will replace current manual spreadsheet methods with an automated, digital system that optimises routes and vehicles resources improving overall data accuracy and linking with existing business systems.
Project Objectives
Production of bus timetables with mapping functionality.
Creation of bus schedules (bus working blocks) from the timetables including interworking of bus blocks across timetables in most efficient manner.
Production of reports including efficiency KPI for schedules.
Import and export functionality to support other area of business such website, roadside publicity and external requirements such as bus open data and electronic registration.
The aim of the project is to provide automation to the production of bus timetables and bus scheduling in order to improve accuracy and efficiency, to provide reports to measure aspects of the bus network and to link with business systems providing information for the website, journey planner and roadside publicity.
At present Nexus has around 200 contracts for local bus services. These could be for a small number of journey at the start and/or the end of a day, a contract for a am and pm journey to/from a school or for a full service running all days and needing 6 or more PVR.
The team currently produce the timetables and route description in Excel.
The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority is presently considering bus reform in the region having produced a franchise scheme assessment which has been subject audit and consultation. Should the Mayor decide to progress to franchising the local bus network, this will include a PVR of around 1100 buses of various sizes running from multiple depots.
Scope Description
A supplier is required to provide a software solution to achieve:
- Production of bus timetables.
- Creation of optimised bus schedules (blocks) from the timetables.
- Production of route maps.
- Production of reports showing efficiency of the network by mileage.
- Production of reports showing efficiency of the network by hours.
- Provide outputs to support other area of business – website, roadside publicity,
- Provide outputs to support others such as Bus Open Data.
Scope Requirements
The scoping requirements for the timetable and scheduling software includes:
- Cloud-hosted Software as a Service, and accessible through internet browser.
- Compliance with Nexus ICT requirements.
- Use data from NAPTAN to identify stopping points.
- Service numbers
- Running times (variable by day and time of day).
- Ability to import bus route information by way of TransXchange, shape files and GTFS.
- Identify vehicle types including a measure on vehicle range depending on type and whether fuel is diesel or ZEB.
- System to optimise vehicle workings across services (interworking).
- System to share running times across multiple services between same points or along same corridors.
CPV: Industry specific software package · Software implementation services · Software supply services · Software support services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive T/A Nexus buys Software-related services (CPV 7226), and who usually turns up
Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive T/A Nexus’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Software-related services (CPV 7226) →
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 North East England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered 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 40 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.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
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 bid4% / 27%
2–324% / 32%
4–670% / 20%
7+1% / 21%
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.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate7% / 57%
Within ±2%23% / 23%
Above estimate70% / 19%
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 7226Estimate not published
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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 62 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid8%
2–329%
4–629%
7+34%
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. Contracts Finder contracts appear on the Retender Radar, not yet in these figures.
- 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
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 5 Nov 2026, 15:22 GMT
- Last source update
- 5 Nov 2026, 15:22 GMT
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-105332- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07b58eFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
5 Nov 2026 → 1 Jul 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published11h ago5 Nov 2026, 15:22 GMT
- Today6 Nov 2026
- Market engagementin 24 days30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
This Preliminary Market Engagement will allow Nexus to:
Understand the market's appetite and capability to provide a bus scheduling system.
Explore key delivery considerations including set up and staff training.
Understand any risks, including those not previously considered.
Gather feedback from potential suppliers in advance of any formal procurement.
Gain an appreciation of the level of costs that may be incurred.
Potential suppliers for this opportunity are invited to express their interest via email to [email protected] referencing NEX26/45 Bus Scheduling Software in the email subject.
The deadline for submission of emailed expressions of interest is Monday 30th November 2026.
Upon receipt of the email above and following the submission deadline suppliers will be invited to complete a short questionnaire ahead of an individual Teams meeting at which responses will be discussed in further detail.
Dependent on the outcome of the above it may be that suppliers are invited to provide a demonstration of their solution to prior to any tender
exercise.
- Contract startsin 236 days1 Jul 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published5 Nov 2026, 15:22 GMTUK2
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