Planning

Bus Franchising Contract Management System

LIVERPOOL CITY REGION COMBINED AUTHORITY

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

21 Aug 2025 at 07:16

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) is in the planning stage of a procurement process for the "Bus Franchising Contract Management System". This initiative is part of the authority's strategy to manage the entire bus network within the region. Currently, an online presentation session is scheduled for 9th to 10th September 2025 for interested suppliers, with confirmation of attendance required by 5th September 2025. The procurement falls under the 'IT services' category, with the main scope being consulting, software development, and support. The project is located in the United Kingdom, specifically the UKD7 region, and aims to commence by 31st March 2026. The total contract value is projected at up to £1,140,000.

This tender offers significant opportunities for software and IT service providers, especially those specialising in contract management solutions with the necessary compliance standards such as ISO27001 or Cyber Essentials Plus. SMEs are encouraged to participate, as suitability provisions are in place. This contract provides the opportunity for IT businesses to expand their reach within the public transport sector by providing innovative solutions that can optimise contract management and performance monitoring in public transportation networks. Such businesses should have a strong portfolio in cloud-first strategies and experience integrating IT systems with performance and payment systems in the transportation industry.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Bus Franchising Contract Management System

Notice Description

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) is on a journey to take back control of the city region's bus network through Bus franchising. The LCRCA will become responsible for 100% of the bus network, and will award contracts to operators to run these services on their behalf, with key performance metrics in place with constant monitoring of their performance. In return for running these services, each Operator will receive a 4 weekly service payment. We are looking to engage with the market to gain insights into Contract Management capabilities that will allow the LCRCA to ensure each Operators' service payment accurately reflects the contract in place and incorporates any performance measure adjustments. Requirements Please provide a demonstration of your solution. We are particularly interested in a CMS which will deliver: CMS; * Business as usual Franchise Contract management (New/change/cancel) * Contract changes, temporary, emergency and permanent * Excellent UI, maximum automation * Ability to ingest bus timetable data in TxC format * Logging of Breaches/fixed penalties * Data export and dashboards Payment Calculator; * Ability to hold/refresh indexed elements used in payment calculations * Integration with AVL data to calculate Indexed Lost Mileage, which has been approved by LCRCA * Logging of Excusing Events and how data can be excluded from the calculation * The calculation of bonus/deductions for: * Start Point punctuality * Intermediate point punctuality * Vehicle compliance * Customer Complaints * Breaches * Partnering & Growth element * Patronage element * Calculation of Service payment in line with payment schedule * Calculation of performance adjustment * Logging of miscellaneous payments * Self-Billing invoice creation * Approval & authorisation (by different roles) for payment * Integration with payment system The LCRCA requires suppliers to be compliant with either ISO27001 or Cyber Essentials Plus standards. Adopting a cloud-first strategy for all IT systems, the LCRCA mandates that any system must be fully hosted within the UK or EU. For ticket purchases, PCI compliance is essential. During the engagement session, suppliers are expected to detail their data requirements and specify the necessary feeds to ensure system functionality.

Planning Information

LCRCA will be hosting an online 60-minute presentation session via Teams for interested suppliers between Tuesday 9 September and Wednesday 10 September. LCRCA will present a slideshow for approx. 15mins, outlining the requirement and the expected quality levels we are looking for from bidders, with the remaining session time available for interested suppliers to ask questions. Interested suppliers should confirm their attendance to the presentation session to Martin.McLoughlin@liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk and Karl.Bradbury@liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk by no later than midday on Friday 5 September 2025; following which they will be sent an invite to the presentation session. A Q&A sheet capturing the discussion, and the presentation slides will be shared as part of the tender documentation for suppliers unable to attend the session.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-058bbf
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/050360-2025
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
SME
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

CPV Codes

72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£950,000 £500K-£1M
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
21 Aug 20253 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
3 Nov 2025Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
30 Mar 2026 - 30 Mar 2031 Over 5 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
LIVERPOOL CITY REGION COMBINED AUTHORITY
Contact Name
Not specified
Contact Email
tender@liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk
Contact Phone
Not specified

Buyer Location

Locality
LIVERPOOL
Postcode
L3 1BP
Post Town
Liverpool
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLD North West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLD7 Merseyside
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLD72 Liverpool
Delivery Location
TLD7 Merseyside
Local Authority
Liverpool
Electoral Ward
Waterfront South
Westminster Constituency
Liverpool Riverside

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

Download

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts. 

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