---
title: "TVCA-PROC-0905 Rail Passenger Focus Survey"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06f53e"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06f53e"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06f53e.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06f53e.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "Tees Valley Combined Authority"
published: "2026-09-09"
---

# TVCA-PROC-0905 Rail Passenger Focus Survey

Buyer: Tees Valley Combined Authority  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06f53e

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## Summary

Tees Valley Combined Authority is preparing a potential rail passenger focus survey covering the Tees Valley region. The work would investigate passengers’ customer issues, identify opportunities and gather qualitative evidence to support future rail planning and service development. It falls within research and development and related consultancy services, with an additional business consultancy classification (CPV 73000000 and 79000000). The survey is expected to involve research design, passenger engagement, evidence collection and findings that can inform rail services and investment decisions. Delivery is in the Tees Valley area of England. The authority is seeking views from the market before deciding and refining any future procurement, including views on the proposed scope, objectives, methodology, deliverables, timescales, risks, commercial approach and social value considerations.

This procurement is at the planning stage and is currently a pre-tender market engagement exercise, not an invitation to tender. Tees Valley Combined Authority expects to use the engagement to test the requirement, understand supplier interest, capability and capacity, and refine a possible future procurement. The planned engagement milestone is 30 September 2026, which is an indicative date for market input rather than a tender deadline. If the requirement proceeds, the current planned contract period is 4 January 2027 to 3 January 2028. One lot is planned. The recorded gross value is £0. The buyer has not yet settled the final scope, methodology, commercial terms, evaluation approach or procurement timetable; suppliers are being invited to provide feedback, challenge assumptions and recommend improvements.

This will suit market-research agencies, passenger-insight specialists, transport consultants and research-led consultancies able to design and deliver surveys for rail users in the Tees Valley. Relevant preparation includes demonstrating capability and capacity for passenger research, qualitative evidence gathering, analysis of customer issues and translation of findings into practical planning or service-development recommendations. Suppliers with experience of rail, public transport, customer insight, stakeholder engagement or public-sector research are likely to be well placed to contribute. The authority is specifically looking for informed views on research methodologies, deliverables, timescales, risks, indicative costs, contractual and commercial arrangements, and social value. There are no stated accreditation or qualification requirements at this stage, so businesses should focus on a credible proposed approach, relevant case studies, delivery capacity and constructive recommendations for shaping the eventual specification.

## Notice

Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) (the 'Contacting Authority'), part of the Tees Valley Combined Authority Group, seeks to engage the market through this Pre-Tender Market Engagement (PTME) exercise in preparation for the potential procurement of a supplier to undertake a rail passenger survey within the Tees Valley region to understand customer issues, identify opportunities, and collect qualitative evidence to support future rail planning and service development. Through this PTME, the Contracting Authority aims to: *Understand market interest, capability and capacity to deliver the proposed requirement. *Test and validate the proposed scope, objectives and approach. *Obtain feedback on methodologies, deliverables, timescales, risks and indicative costs. *Understand market views on contractual, commercial and social value considerations. *Identify opportunities to improve and refine any future procurement. *Provide suppliers with an opportunity to raise questions, challenge assumptions and make recommendations based on their experience. For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at: https://teesvalley.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Darlington:-Research-and-development-services-and-related-consultancy-services./S6YZ443D79 To respond to this opportunity, please click here: https://teesvalley.delta-esourcing.com/respond/S6YZ443D79

### Planning Information

For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Tees Valley portal at: https://teesvalley.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-Darlington:-Research-and-development-services-and-related-consultancy-services./S6YZ443D79
To respond to this opportunity, please click here: https://teesvalley.delta-esourcing.com/respond/S6YZ443D79
If you experience any technical difficulties from accessing the above url, then please contact the Delta eSourcing Helpdesk on call 0800 923 9236 or email helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/085220-2026 |
| Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 9 Sep 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 4 Jan 2027 - 3 Jan 2028 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Planning |
| Lots status | Planning |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Tees Valley Combined Authority |
| Locality | DARLINGTON |
| Postcode area | Darlington |
| Postcode | DL2 1NJ |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLC North East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLC3 Tees Valley |
| ITL 3 | TLC33 Darlington |
| Local authority | Darlington |
| Electoral ward | Sadberge & Middleton St George |
| Westminster constituency | Stockton West |
| Delivery location | TLC1 Tees Valley and Durham |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
- 79000000 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

## Release History

- 9 Sep 2026 at 10:09 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/085220-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/085220-2026
  9th September 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://teesvalley.delta-esourcing.com/respond/S6YZ443D79
- https://teesvalley.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-Darlington:-Research-and-development-services-and-related-consultancy-services./S6YZ443D79
- https://teesvalley.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Darlington:-Research-and-development-services-and-related-consultancy-services./S6YZ443D79
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06f53e. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06f53e.json.