Official UK procurement notice
Bus Service · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Bournemouth University (Education)·Consortium: 2 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionBournemouth University (BU), in partnership with Arts University Bournemouth (AUB), requires a University Bus Service which enables students and passengers to travel to the university, from core destinations around the South-East Dorset conurbation.
CPV: Buses and coaches · Hire of buses and coaches with driver · Public road transport services · Travel services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Bournemouth University buys Hire of passenger transport vehicles with driver (CPV 6017), and who usually turns up
Bournemouth University’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Hire of passenger transport vehicles with driver (CPV 6017) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in South West England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 130 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid12%
2–317%
4–640%
7+30%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate31%
Within ±2%24%
Above estimate45%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 3412Estimate not published
This lot is listed as CPV 3412. The table above uses the notice category.
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 37 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid38%
2–332%
4–68%
7+22%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 2 Oct 2026, 17:05 BST
- Last source update
- 2 Oct 2026, 17:05 BST
- Authority reference
EST/OS/501- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-093551- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07802bFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
2 Oct 2026 → 1 Aug 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published24 days ago2 Oct 2026, 17:05 BST
- Market engagement10 days ago16 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
The purpose of this PME is to gather industry expertise and feedback that will inform the development of our final project and procurement requirements.
Objectives:
- Developing the University’s requirements and approach to the procurement;
- Designing a procedure, conditions of participation or award criteria;
- Preparing the tender notice and associated tender documents;
- Identifying suppliers that may be able to supply the goods, services or works required;
- Identifying likely contractual terms;
- Building capacity among suppliers in relation to the contract being awarded.
Suppliers interested in participating in this PME process are required to express their interest by email to procurement@bournemouth.ac.uk with the subject heading “EST/OS/501 – Bus Service PME”.
Once suppliers have expressed their interest we will provide further information on the requirements with a Questionnaire for your completion.
BU are intending on holding one-to-one discussions/meetings with interested suppliers on the week commencing 02 November 2026. Suppliers will be shortlisted for meetings based on the answers provided in the Questionnaires.
Please note that while we aim to engage with a broad range of suppliers, it may not be possible to invite all interested parties to a meeting. Participation in this exercise is voluntary, and there is no obligation for BU to meet with every supplier who expresses an interest and submits a completed Questionnaire.
This PME is not a request for quotation. BU’s current intention is to conduct an openly advertised tender process at a later stage.
There is no obligation for suppliers to respond to this PME. Supplier responses (or lack thereof) to this exercise will not be used to determine which suppliers will be carried forward to tender process or in any subsequent evaluation of supplier proposals.
The University's current intention is that any future procurement opportunity arising from this requirement will be advertised separately at a later date.
- Today27 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 20 days16 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 277 days1 Aug 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published2 Oct 2026, 17:05 BSTUK2
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Arts University BournemouthContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender