---
title: "501 Local Bus Service - Dumfries to Castle Douglas to Kirkcudbright"
ocid: "ocds-r6ebe6-0000840740"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000840740"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000840740.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000840740.json"
source: "Public Contracts Scotland"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "Dumfries and Galloway Council"
published: "2026-08-20"
---

# 501 Local Bus Service - Dumfries to Castle Douglas to Kirkcudbright

Buyer: Dumfries and Galloway Council  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-r6ebe6-0000840740

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## Summary

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.

## Notice

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;

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Public Contracts Scotland |
| Latest notice | https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG562748 |
| 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 |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 20 Aug 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 8 Jun 2026 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £819,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Dumfries and Galloway Council |
| Locality | DUMFRIES |
| Postcode area | Dumfries and Galloway |
| Postcode | DG1 2HP |
| Country | Scotland |
| ITL 1 | TLM Scotland |
| ITL 2 | TLM9 Southern Scotland |
| ITL 3 | TLM92 Dumfries and Galloway |
| Local authority | Dumfries and Galloway |
| Electoral ward | Nith |
| Westminster constituency | Dumfries and Galloway |
| Delivery location | TLM92 Dumfries and Galloway |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | McCalls Coaches Ltd |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 60 - Transport services (excl. Waste transport)

### Codes

- 60170000 - Hire of passenger transport vehicles with driver

## Release History

- 20 Aug 2026 at 01:00 - Award - OJEU - F3 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG562748

## Documents

- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG562748
  501 Local Bus Service - Dumfries to Castle Douglas to Kirkcudbright - Dumfries to Castle Douglas to Kirkcudbright 501 Local Bus Service

## Notice URLs

- http://
- http://www.dumgal.gov.uk
- https://api.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/v1/Notice?id=ocds-r6ebe6-0000840740

## 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-r6ebe6-0000840740. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000840740.json.