Official UK procurement notice
Transport For Wales - Exploring Cycle Hire Opportunities Across Wales
Authority: Transport for Wales (TFW) Ltd (Public body)·Consortium: 2 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionTransport for Wales is undertaking a market engagement exercise to better understand the cycle hire market and opportunities for cycle hire provision across Wales.
The purpose of this engagement is to gather market intelligence on existing and emerging cycle hire solutions, commercial delivery models, operational considerations, technology platforms and approaches to partnership working. Feedback gathered through this exercise will help inform Transport for Wales' understanding of the market and the potential role that cycle hire services could play in supporting integrated transport, active travel and sustainable first and last mile connectivity to rail services.
At this stage, no procurement strategy, route to market or future opportunity has been determined. Information obtained through this engagement may be used to inform future decision-making, should Transport for Wales decide to progress further activity in this area.
CPV: Supporting and auxiliary transport services; travel agencies services · Transport equipment and auxiliary products to transportation · Transport services (excl. Waste transport)
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Transport for Wales (TFW) Ltd buys Transport equipment and products (CPV 34), and who usually turns up
Transport for Wales (TFW) Ltd’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: Transport equipment and products (CPV 34) →
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.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
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.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in 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 45 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 bid7% / 25%
2–352% / 44%
4–628% / 25%
7+14% / 6%
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 estimate63% / 34%
Within ±2%13% / 41%
Above estimate25% / 25%
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 34Published estimate£500k
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 34. The comparison uses that group.
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 359 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid25%
2–344%
4–625%
7+6%
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
- 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
- 13 Oct 2026, 15:43 BST
- Last source update
- 13 Oct 2026, 15:43 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-096674- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0786d3Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
13 Oct 2026 → 1 Apr 2028 · 4 dates- Planning notice published15 days ago13 Oct 2026, 15:43 BST
- Today28 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 25 days22 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Transport for Wales invites organisations operating within, or with experience of, the cycle hire sector to participate in a market engagement questionnaire.
The objective of this exercise is to better understand the cycle hire market in Wales, including the range of operating models currently available, commercial arrangements, funding approaches, technology solutions and market appetite for future opportunities. We are particularly interested in understanding how cycle hire schemes can support rail travel by improving first and last mile connectivity, encouraging active travel and enabling seamless multimodal journeys.
Responses will help Transport for Wales assess the opportunities, challenges and viability of cycle hire provision around rail stations and other transport hubs across Wales. This exercise is solely for information gathering and market insight purposes and does not constitute a call for competition or a commitment to undertake a future procurement.
To access the market engagement questionnaire, please copy and paste the relevant URL below into your web browser. The questionnaire is available in both English and Welsh, and suppliers may choose which version to complete.
English Version - forms.cloud.microsoft/e/DMEPzRsxg1 ↗
Welsh Version - forms.cloud.microsoft/e/QEiZ41D7x5 ↗
The deadline for submitting completed questionnaires is 11:45pm on 22 November 2026.
Responses will be used to inform Transport for Wales' understanding of the market and any potential future activity in this area.
- Tender notice expectedin 308 days1 Sept 2027, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts1 Apr 2028, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published13 Oct 2026, 15:43 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
- Transport for Wales Rail LtdContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentWelsh devolved regulations apply
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