Official UK procurement notice
Ticket Protection · UK public procurement notice
Authority: LONDON NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY LIMITED (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionLNER is committed to not only revolutionising how we deliver rail services but also
enriching the end-to-end travel experience for our customers. Recognising the evolving
needs of travellers, we aim to integrate relevant travel essentials at every stage of the
journey, ensuring it feels effortless and tailored to individual needs.
LNER is exploring a new Ticket Protection product to give customers greater flexibility and
confidence when booking rail journeys. For a small fee, passengers would be able to
protect their ticket purchase and claim a refund if they are unable to travel due to eligible,
unforeseen events.
Project Overview
The goal is to offer a simple, customer-friendly add-on during the booking journey, giving
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passengers peace of mind and a fair refund option outside standard rail refund rules.
We are particularly interested in an MVP that can:
- Offer fixed-price protection for a limited number of ticket types.
- Provide refund fulfilment of this protection to customers.
- Be fully branded and configurable by LNER.
- Collect Data and relevant analytics on uptake and usage to inform future development
and customer behavior.
What We're Looking for in a Partner
- Provide an out-of-the-box or white-labelled solution that offers Ticket Protection
- Ability to deliver an FCA-regulated protection product.
- A straightforward, low-friction customer experience.
- Clear terms and conditions presented at purchase to customers.
- Integration with LNER's digital booking flow.
- A supplier who will handle underwriting, claims and customer contact.
- Integrate with our back-end fulfilment, CRM, and payment systems
- Provide configurable rules (e.g. protection applies to journeys up to X hours before
departure)
CPV: Financial and insurance services · IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£3,000,000
- Economic & financial standing
All information can be found within the Tender pack requirements - however any potential suppliers must be FCA regulated
- Technical & professional ability
All information can be found within the tender pack requirements -
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 award criteria (2)
- quality: All criteria is set out in the tender pack within the ITT and specification documents, this tender will be evaluated on Price (40%) and Quality (60%) only
- Price: All criteria is set out in the tender pack within the ITT and specification documents, this tender will be evaluated on Price (40%) and Quality (60%) only
- Economic & financial standing
All information can be found within the Tender pack requirements - however any potential suppliers must be FCA regulated
- Technical & professional ability
All information can be found within the tender pack requirements -
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
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
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- ConcessionUtilities
- 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 Sept 2025, 10:26 BST
- Last source update
- 21 Nov 2025, 12:26 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 23 Feb 2026
- Authority reference
RFQ000042- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-076004- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0594b8Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
N/A
- Risks
Due to the nature of the services, there is a recognised 'known unknown' risk that actual concession value may fluctuate over the contract term. Variability in uptake and usage levels may result in increases or decreases in revenue, the extent of which is currently indeterminable by LNER.
If restricted, the limited value could jeopardise the satisfactory performance of the contract, and because of its nature, can not be addressed in the contract as awarded. Additional information
Where used throughout this notice, the meaning of Train Operating Companies includes all and any of those train operating companies who, currently or in the future, provide services for the carriage of passengers by railway:
a) under a franchise agreement with the Secretary of State within the meaning of section 23(3) of the Railways Act 1993 or
b) under, or secured under, the Secretary of State's duty in section 30(1) of the Railways Act 1993; or
c) in accordance with legislation which supersedes or amends the powers referred to in a) and b), including where such powers are transferred from the Secretary of State to another body.
The list of current providers of services for the carriage of passengers by railway under these provisions can be found at www.gov.uk/guidance/public-regi… ↗.
Novation or Assignment
The contract may be novated or assigned by London North Eastern Railway Limited to Train Operating Companies, or to DFT Operator Limited (company number: 07141122) or any successor parent company to a Train Operating Company, following a corporate restructuring or similar circumstance.
Suppliers need to be aware the contract value will potentially be impacted over time by several external factors outside of the Authority's control which may further increase or decrease the contract value over its lifespan such as:
- Market demand fluctuations
- level of take up of the ticket protection... (detail here impacting factors)
Any changes required to the contract, including value, will be managed via a contract change/modification process and supported by the appropriate statutory notices such as section 5 of Schedule 8 within the Procurement Act 2023. Any modification of such value shall not materially impact the services provided.'
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 23 Dec 2025, 13:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 4 Dec 2025, 15:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Please use this link to register onto our Oracle Fusion Portal to se up an account - ensuring you tick to the box to note that you are a bidding for an opportunity tinyurl.com/LNERFusionRegistration ↗
All tender documents will be available to you upon registration. This portal will be used for all communications going forward.
Timeline
5 Sept 2025 → 2 Mar 2026 · 8 dates- Planning notice published5 Sept 2025, 10:26 BST
- Market engagement376 days ago16 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST
If you are interested in finding more about this tender opportunity, LNER will be holding a Teams session on Friday 17 October 2025 at 10am - 12 Noon, to discuss our vision and required outcome along with the proposed draft tender timeline. The session will be open for you to ask any initial questions at this stage. Please note that this session will be recorded.
Please contact Annie Bradbury on [email protected] to secure your place at this session, stating the name of your Company, Contact Name and Contact email address.
Invitations to this session will be sent out no later than Wednesday 15 October 2025
- Next notice expected365 days ago27 Oct 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Tender notice published340 days ago21 Nov 2025, 12:26 GMT
- Clarification questions by327 days ago4 Dec 2025, 15:00 GMT
- Submission deadline308 days ago23 Dec 2025, 13:00 GMT
- Award decision expected by246 days ago23 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts240 days ago2 Mar 2026
Notice history
6 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 5 Sept 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published5 Sept 2025, 10:26 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published21 Nov 2025, 12:26 GMTUK4
- Published value published: £3,000,00021 Nov 2025, 12:26 GMT
- Status changed to active21 Nov 2025, 12:26 GMT
- Procurement method changed21 Nov 2025, 12:26 GMT
- Deadline published: 23 Dec 2025, 13:00 GMT21 Nov 2025, 12:26 GMT
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender