Official UK procurement notice
Provision of Southend-on-Sea South Local Bus Service 2026
Authority: Southend-on-Sea City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSouthend-on-Sea City Council (SCC) is seeking to award a contract to a suitable supplier for the provision of a South Bus Service operating within Southend on Sea. The detail of which
can be found below.
Scope:
Currently there are no commercial bus services which provide a service with a direct link into Airport land, operating between Southend Travel Centre and London Southend
Airport and Temple Farm Industrial Estate. This new bus service will support residents within St. Laurence; Prittlewell; St. Luke's; Southchurch; Victoria; Kursall; Milton Wards and enable new connections across the city.
Consultation for the BSIP identified many residents wanted to see a route from the
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Eastern area of Southend-on-Sea into London Southend Airport and considered that such a service could enable new connections across the city and avoid the need to travel into the city centre to change buses.
This new bus service will also support local businesses along the route including the Temple Farm Industrial areas of the city, that have no, or very few, bus services linking them direct to other parts of the city.
Local Government Reform & Devolution:
The contracting authority is Southend-on-Sea City Council and any Successor Body meaning one or more entities which assumes any of the Council's functions (as applicable) as a result of Local Government Reform (LGR). Such successor body or bodies may be, without limitation, a local authority, a combined county authority, a strategic authority or any other status determined pursuant to the Devolution and LGR Legislation.
CPV: Transport equipment and auxiliary products to transportation · Transport services (excl. Waste transport)
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£1,470,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Technical: 30%
- Commercial: 70%
Published award criteria (2)
- Technical
- Commercial
- Price carries 70 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 7 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- 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
- 17 Mar 2026, 14:11 GMT
- Last source update
- 9 Jul 2026, 12:47 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 5 Aug 2026
- Authority reference
DN807556- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-040661- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-066c5aFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 5 Jun 2026, 15:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 15 May 2026, 15:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
The provisioning of documentation relating to the Procurement Process and the submission of Responses from interested Parties will be conducted electronically via Southend-on-Sea City Council's Electronic Tender Facility, ProContract:
procurement.southend.gov.uk/southend/portal.nsf/… ↗
The Candidates must ensure that they have downloaded and are fully aware of all the information which they are required to be in receipt of. This will include; Procurement Specific Questionnaire, Technical (Quality) Responses, Commercial (Price) Submission, Tender Forms & Declarations.
All submissions must be forms to be completed online via Pro Contract.
Timeline
17 Mar 2026 → 1 Nov 2026 · 11 dates- Planning notice published226 days ago17 Mar 2026, 14:11 GMT
- Market engagement212 days ago30 Mar 2026, 23:59 BST
Engagement process description
Southend-on-Sea City Council will be holding an online Teams market engagement event for this service on 31st March 2026 (subject to availability).
The Market Engagement Event will cover the following:
- Overview of the Service
- Proposed Procurement Approach
- Indicative Procurement Timeline
- Q&A Session with Suppliers
The Council will use all reasonable endeavours to respond to questions raised within the session. The session will be recorded.
To register your interest in this opportunity, please email Procurement at lucygayler@southend.gov.uk and provide the following information:
- Name of your registered organisation
- Names and Email Addresses of Attendees for the Market Engagement Event
- Acceptance of your availability.
Important Information:
Respondents are advised that the purpose of this notice is to engage in dialogue with the market. The scope of service, date of publication or potential contract value should not be taken as a final "version" of requirement.
This notice is not a call for competition to procure any services and is not published to reduce time limited for the receipt of tenders.
Interested parties will not be prejudiced by any response or (lack) to this notice. Nor shall a response to this notice guarantee an invitation to participate in any future procurement process that Southend-on-Sea City Council may conduct.
- Tender notice published181 days ago1 May 2026, 15:30 BST
- Next notice expected180 days ago1 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Clarification questions by167 days ago15 May 2026, 15:00 BST
- Submission deadline146 days ago5 Jun 2026, 15:00 BST
- Assessment summaries sent112 days ago9 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published112 days ago9 Jul 2026, 12:47 BST
- Standstill ends99 days ago21 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
- Award decision expected by84 days ago5 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 2 days1 Nov 2026
Notice history
9 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 17 Mar 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Mar 2026, 14:11 GMTUK2
- Tender notice published1 May 2026, 15:30 BSTUK4
- Published value updated1 May 2026, 15:30 BST
- Status changed to active1 May 2026, 15:30 BST
- Procurement method changed1 May 2026, 15:30 BST
- Deadline published: 5 Jun 2026, 15:00 BST1 May 2026, 15:30 BST
- Contract award notice published9 Jul 2026, 12:47 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete9 Jul 2026, 12:47 BST
- Contract signature expected22 Jul 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arriva Kent Thameside Limited1 Aug 2026 – 4 Nov 2028 · up to 3 Nov 2029Extensions: Option to extend for a further 12 month period. | £1,457,118 inc. VAT | 9 Jul 2026standstill to 21 Jul 2026 | Standstill |
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3final-stage tenders | 1 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- ARRIVA KENT THAMESIDE LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender