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501 Local Bus Service - Dumfries to Castle Douglas to Kirkcudbright

Dumfries and Galloway Council

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

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20 Aug 2026 at 01:00

OJEU - F3 - Contract Award Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Dumfries and Galloway Council procured passenger transport services for the 501 local bus route between Dumfries, Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright. The requirement covers the operation of the specified route and associated passenger transport service, delivered along this corridor in Dumfries and Galloway. It is a public transport service rather than a goods supply or construction project. The relevant service classification is CPV 60170000, covering the hire of passenger vehicles with driver. The council acted as the buying organisation. The selected provider was McCalls Coaches Ltd, an SME based in Lockerbie. The route is a local bus service serving communities between Dumfries, Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright.

The procurement is complete and was awarded to McCalls Coaches Ltd for the single passenger transport lot. The contract is active, was signed on 8 June 2026 and has a value of £819,000 including the stated currency, GBP. The council used a limited award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition. It was treated as a modification of the original contract under Regulation 72 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, for additional services where changing provider would create technical or economic difficulties, inconvenience or duplicated costs. Evaluation was based on price at 60% and quality at 40%. One bid was recorded, from an SME, and it was submitted electronically.

This award demonstrates established demand from Dumfries and Galloway Council for contracted local bus operations on a defined inter-town route. A credible competitor for a future requirement would need to operate passenger transport services reliably between Dumfries, Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright, with vehicles, drivers and scheduling arrangements suited to a regular local bus service. The buyer’s use of a contract modification also indicates that continuity, compatibility with the existing service and avoidance of disruption or duplicated costs can be commercially important when appointing or changing an operator. Suppliers should therefore be able to evidence dependable route delivery, operational resilience and service quality, alongside competitive pricing. The successful bidder was an SME, showing that this scale of passenger transport work can be delivered by a smaller specialist operator.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

501 Local Bus Service - Dumfries to Castle Douglas to Kirkcudbright

Notice Description

Dumfries to Castle Douglas to Kirkcudbright 501 Local Bus Service

Lot Information

Lot 1

Provision of passenger transport with the specification for 501 covering routes. This is a modification to the original contract under Reg72.

Procurement Information

The Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 Regulation 72 Modification of contracts during their term 72.--(1) A contract and framework agreement may be modified without a new procurement procedure-- (b)to provide for additional works, supplies or services by the original contractor that have become necessary and were not included in the initial procurement, where a change of contractor-- (i)cannot be made for economic or technical reasons such as requirements of interchangeability or interoperability with existing equipment, services or installations procured under the initial procurement; and (ii)would cause significant inconvenience or substantial duplication of costs for the contracting authority, provided that any increase in price does not exceed 50% of the initial contract value;

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-r6ebe6-0000840740
Publication Source
Public Contracts Scotland
Latest Notice
https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG562748
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
OJEU - F3 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Limited
Procurement Method Details
Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

60 - Transport services (excl. Waste transport)

CPV Codes

60170000 - Hire of passenger transport vehicles with driver

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£819,000 £500K-£1M

Notice Dates

Publication Date
20 Aug 20261 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
8 Jun 20262 months ago
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Active

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Dumfries and Galloway 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
DUMFRIES
Postcode
DG1 2HP
Postcode Area
Dumfries and Galloway
Country
Scotland
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLM Scotland
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLM9 Southern Scotland
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLM92 Dumfries and Galloway
Delivery Location
TLM92 Dumfries and Galloway
Local Authority
Dumfries and Galloway
Electoral Ward
Nith
Westminster Constituency
Dumfries and Galloway

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

McCalls Coaches Ltd

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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