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Contracted Transport Services

Staffordshire County Council

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

03 Aug 2026 at 14:22

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Staffordshire County Council is considering contracted passenger transport services across Staffordshire. The scope covers home-to-school transport for children and young people in mainstream education, and transport for children and adults with special educational needs, learning disabilities, physical and sensory disabilities, and mental health issues. Services may use hackney carriages, private hire vehicles and passenger-carrying vehicles, with passenger assistants potentially required for some special educational needs journeys. The council is also considering local bus, demand-responsive and dial-a-ride services, delivered through shared taxis or registered flexible buses, to help the public reach townships and marketplaces. This is a passenger transport services procurement, including taxi, bus and coach operations, and is marked as suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.

This process is at the planning and preliminary market engagement stage; it is not a formal tender. The council expects any subsequent procurement to take place in spring or summer 2027. It is seeking supplier feedback on possible arrangements, service specifications and tender documents, with questionnaire responses requested by 30 September 2026. The anticipated combined budget is £42.4 million per annum excluding VAT: £33.4 million for home-to-school transport and £9 million for local services. The planned arrangement is one lot, with an anticipated contract period from 30 May 2028 to 29 May 2036. The council says current provision carries 5,233 pupils on 1,205 contracted routes, while 9,066 pupils are eligible for transport overall.

The engagement is most relevant to operators able to provide reliable passenger transport using taxis, private hire cars, minibuses, buses or coaches, including providers of non-scheduled journeys and demand-responsive services. It may suit individual operators, fleet-based transport companies, community transport organisations and small or medium-sized businesses able to work alone or collaboratively across a broad countywide requirement. Experience of transporting children, disabled passengers and people with additional needs will be valuable, as will the ability to provide appropriately supported journeys where passenger assistants are needed. Suppliers should prepare views on workable operating models, service specifications, policies and schedules. Businesses interested in shaping the future requirement should complete the council’s questionnaire and register on the Central Digital Platform and Staffordshire County Council’s electronic tendering system before the formal process.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

Contracted Transport Services

Notice Description

Staffordshire County Council are considering their commissioning intentions and options in the future provision of transport, using Hackney Carriages, Private Hire Vehicles and Passenger Carrying Vehicles (PCV) for children and young people in mainstream education, children and adults with Special Educational Needs (SEN), learning disabilities, physical and sensory disabilities, and mental health issues and the general public. There may be a requirement for Passenger Assistants on SEN transport provision dependant on the needs of the passenger. In addition the Council is also considering options in the future provision of Local Services, this provides local bus services, demand responsive or dial-a-ride services either as a shared taxi service or registered flexible bus service. This local service allows the general public to access townships and marketplaces.

Planning Information

Staffordshire County Council are considering their commissioning intentions and options in the future provision of transport, using Hackney Carriages, Private Hire Vehicles and Passenger Carrying Vehicles (PCV) for children and young people in mainstream education, children and adults with Special Educational Needs (SEN), learning disabilities, physical and sensory disabilities, and mental health issues and the general public. There may be a requirement for Passenger Assistants on SEN transport provision dependant on the needs of the passenger. In addition the Council is also considering options in the future provision of Local Services, this provides local bus services, demand responsive or dial-a-ride services either as a shared taxi service or registered flexible bus service. This local service allows the general public to access townships and marketplaces. The responses submitted as part of this PME will provide information and feedback on supplier's views on the development of possible future arrangements, how they may work and also the level of interest in the tendering activity that will follow. Responding to the questions and providing feedback at this stage is not part of any formal tender process and your feedback will not be scored in any way. Your feedback will be considered when developing and reviewing any service specification, developing the tender documents and pulling together the contract documents and any relevant schedules that cover the processes, policies and operation of the arrangement. It is anticipated that any formal procurement process which may follow will be in Spring/Summer 2027. It is anticipated that the budget will be between a combined value of £42.4m consisting of £33.4m home to school transport and £9m local service per annum (excluding VAT). There are currently 5,233 pupils traveling on 1,205 contracted routes. The total number of pupils that are eligible for a form of transport is 9,066 and includes those that have access to Personal Travel Budgets (PTB), petrol allowances or local bus passes, which will not be delivered through the current Dynamic Purchasing System or any future replacement arrangement. How to get involved and where to send the responses to; We would like suppliers to provide feedback to a specific questionnaire which can be found here https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/ZtLXdM4Qey Alternatively you can request a Word version of the Questionnaire by emailing commercial.team@staffordshire.gov.uk requesting the IA3890 PME Questionnaire. Reply with completed Questionnaire(s)with "IA3890 PME" in the email title. Please respond with your feedback by Wednesday 30th September 2026 at the latest. In preparation for the formal process we strongly encourage suppliers to register on the Central Digital Platform https://www.gov.uk/find-tender in advance as this will be required for the procurement process to come. It would also be helpful if suppliers are registered on the SCC's electronic tendering system Proactis https://supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/Account/Login as this will be where the tender documents will be available when ready. This system is used for all SCC tendering processes.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06da14
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/073224-2026
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

60 - Transport services (excl. Waste transport)

CPV Codes

60112000 - Public road transport services

60120000 - Taxi services

60130000 - Special-purpose road passenger-transport services

60140000 - Non-scheduled passenger transport

60171000 - Hire of passenger cars with driver

60172000 - Hire of buses and coaches with driver

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
3 Aug 20262 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
30 May 2028 - 29 May 2036 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
Staffordshire County Council
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
STAFFORD
Postcode
ST16 2DH
Postcode Area
Stoke-on-Trent
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLG West Midlands (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLG2 Shropshire and Staffordshire
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLG24 Staffordshire CC
Delivery Location
TLG2 Shropshire and Staffordshire
Local Authority
Stafford
Electoral Ward
Forebridge
Westminster Constituency
Stafford

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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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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