Find a TenderPlanned procurementPipeline notice
Published 8 Oct 2026, 12:29 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Home to School Transport · UK public procurement notice

Authority: City of York Council (Local council)

ServicesBelow thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£6,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Mar 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 1 Sept 2030 · up to 1 Sept 2032 with extensions · starts 1 Sept 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Delivery of York's home to school transport service for multiple routes to our maintained schools.

We expect these to be delivered via buses of varying sizes and taxis.

Our previous contract was split into 7 Lots with an approximate value of £5.6million total (excl VAT). Whilst we expect the value to remain similar but in line with cost increases, we are considering a restructure of the Lots.

York is also considering including some of the shared routes for our Adult Social Care needs. This may increase the total value of the procurement by a further £400,000 excl VAT.

CPV: Hire of passenger transport vehicles with driver · Transport equipment and auxiliary products to transportation

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Sept 2027 – 1 Sept 2030 (3 yrs) · up to 1 Sept 2032 with extensions
Delivery: Yorkshire & HumberEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How City of York Council buys Hire of passenger transport vehicles with driver (CPV 6017), and who usually turns up

City of York Council’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) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerCity of York Council · all categories
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 39 of 61 known-size awards · market: CPV 6017 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=59
64%90%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
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 Yorkshire and the Humber.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 46 of 80 known-location awards · market: CPV 6017 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=63
58%92%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 10 decided notices · market: CPV 6017 · UK-wide, n=23
37 days46 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 37 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 24 of 88 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 6017 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=12
27%8%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer18 lots with bid counts · all categories
6% had one bid
The market12 lots with bid counts · CPV 6017 · Yorkshire and the Humber
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid6% / 0%
Buyer: 1 of 18 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 12 lots with published bid counts.
2–333% / 33%
Buyer: 6 of 18 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 12 lots with published bid counts.
4–628% / 17%
Buyer: 5 of 18 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 12 lots with published bid counts.
7+33% / 50%
Buyer: 6 of 18 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 12 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer32 lots with estimate and award · all categories
47% below estimate
The market42 lots with estimate and award · CPV 6017 · UK-wide
31% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate47% / 31%
Buyer: 15 of 32 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 13 of 42 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%28% / 24%
Buyer: 9 of 32 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 10 of 42 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate25% / 45%
Buyer: 8 of 32 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 19 of 42 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 601736 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£6.0m
Expected competition
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 12 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet0% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 12 similar lots
1 bid0%
0 of 12 similar past lots received 1 bid (0%).
2–333%
4 of 12 similar past lots received 2–3 (33%).
4–617%
2 of 12 similar past lots received 4–6 (17%).
7+50%
6 of 12 similar past lots received 7+ (50%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 7 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £6.0m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
Dawsongroup Bus and Coach LimitedEarlier contractHome to School Minibus Hire 2025started Aug 2025—£166kMatched as the earlier contract

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.

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
Below threshold
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
8 Oct 2026, 12:29 BST
Last source update
16 Oct 2026, 10:45 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097786
Latest notice
Pipeline notice (UK1)
Classification (CPV)
Hire of passenger transport vehicles with driverTransport equipment and auxiliary products to transportation
Delivery area
Yorkshire & Humber (UKE21)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0783a9 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

8 Oct 2026 → 1 Sept 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published20 days ago
    8 Oct 2026, 12:29 BST
  2. Latest notice published12 days ago
    16 Oct 2026, 10:45 BST
  3. Today
    28 Oct 2026
  4. Tender notice expectedin 124 days
    1 Mar 2027, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 307 days
    1 Sept 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 8 Oct 2026
  1. Pipeline notice published
    8 Oct 2026, 12:29 BST
    UK1
  2. Pipeline notice published
    16 Oct 2026, 10:45 BST
    UK1
Published amendments (1)

Amended the scope slightly to better indicate the prominence of both types of vehicles we expect to be used.

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

City of York Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PQVW-9426-LDJV West Offices, Station Rise, York, Yorkshire & Humber, YO1 6GAContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Pipeline notice planningPipeline noticeUK1Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
  • Pipeline notice planningPipeline noticeUK1Pipeline notice on Find a Tender