Official UK procurement notice
WMCA July 2026 Subsidised Bus Tenders
Authority: West Midlands Combined Authority (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) supports the provision of an extensive passenger transport network across the West Midlands, both in fulfilment of statutory duties and to enable access to facilities and services.
Current Subsidised Bus Contracts expiring on 25th July 2026 need to be re-procured in order to ensure the routes contained within each contract remain operational. There are three (3) contracts in total that are being tendered.
Please note the value of the procurement published is the total aggregrated value of all three (3) contracts.
- No preliminary market engagement: No Market Engagement has been undertaken for the contracts/services being tendered during this round. The decision not to conduct Market Engagement was taken, as there will be future changes to the Bus Network within the West Midlands region and how these are procured/contracted. A Market Engagement Notice in relation to future plans for the network and tendering opportunities will be published to the market during March 2026.
CPV: Public-service buses · Transport services (excl. Waste transport)
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£2,600,000
- Economic & financial standing
A Financial viability self assessment will be carried out by the supplier, which they will berequired to submit as part of their Tender Submisson.
This will be assessed in Two (2) stages, it will be ratified by the Authority prior to the evaluation of tenders. It will then be assessed again prior to award, once the total aggregated annual contract value is known for each bidder.
Full documentation and guidance is included within the 'Invitation to Tender' pack
- Technical & professional ability
Please see Part 3 of the 'Qualification' envelope for a full list of our 'Conditions of Participation' for this opportunity. Please note all 'Conditions of Participation' must be passed in order for suppliers tenders to be considered further/evaluated.
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 (1)
- Commercial/Price: 100%
Published award criteria (1)
- Commercial/Price
- Economic & financial standing
A Financial viability self assessment will be carried out by the supplier, which they will berequired to submit as part of their Tender Submisson.
This will be assessed in Two (2) stages, it will be ratified by the Authority prior to the evaluation of tenders. It will then be assessed again prior to award, once the total aggregated annual contract value is known for each bidder.
Full documentation and guidance is included within the 'Invitation to Tender' pack
- Technical & professional ability
Please see Part 3 of the 'Qualification' envelope for a full list of our 'Conditions of Participation' for this opportunity. Please note all 'Conditions of Participation' must be passed in order for suppliers tenders to be considered further/evaluated.
- Price carries 100 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 10 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
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 4 Mar 2026, 17:08 GMT
- Last source update
- 5 Jun 2026, 12:04 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 30 Apr 2026
- Authority reference
PRT-ITS-WPG-2025-0016- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-019694- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-066285Find a Tender
- Risks
- Worsening Highway Conditions
- Exceptional Cost Inflation
- Change to travel demand or travel patterns
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 30 Mar 2026, 17:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 18 Mar 2026, 17:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
4 Mar 2026 → 26 Jul 2026 · 7 dates- Tender notice published233 days ago4 Mar 2026, 17:08 GMT
- Clarification questions by219 days ago18 Mar 2026, 17:00 GMT
- Submission deadline207 days ago30 Mar 2026, 17:00 BST
- Award decision expected by175 days ago30 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent140 days ago5 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published140 days ago5 Jun 2026, 12:04 BST
- Contract starts89 days ago26 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
4 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 4 Mar 2026- Tender notice published4 Mar 2026, 17:08 GMTUK4
- Contract award notice published5 Jun 2026, 12:04 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete5 Jun 2026, 12:04 BST
- Contract signature expected26 Jun 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| D&G Bus LimitedWMCA July 2026 Subsidised Bus Contracts - T088126 Jul 2026 – 23 Oct 2027 | £582,000 | 5 Jun 2026 | Awarded |
| West Midlands Travel LimitedWMCA July 2026 Subsidised Bus Tenders - T0873/T088726 Jul 2026 – 24 Apr 2027 · up to 23 Oct 2027Extensions: The extension period will be executed based upon satisfactory performance of the contract during the initial term of the contract. | £1,863,550 | 5 Jun 2026 | Awarded |
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4final-stage tenders | 2 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
2 commercial parties on the notice- Chaserider Buses LimitedAwarded supplier
- West Midlands Travel LimitedAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
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
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender