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OpenStage · tender 2792 days to close

East Lothian Council

DPS Transport for Education, Social care and other transport requirements (East Lothian Council)

TransportCPV 34121500
Value£43.7m
Deadline20 Apr 2034
Published17 Apr 2026
RegionNationwide
Timeline
Published 17 Apr 20262792 days leftCloses 20 Apr 2034
Who to contact
procurement@eastlothian.gov.uk
+44 1620827827

The procurement contact named on the official notice.

How to submit
Open the submissions portal

The submission route named on the official notice.

Contract value in context
£43.7mtotal contract value
median £102k
this tender£0£47.2m

This is a large award for Transport Equipment — above three-quarters of comparable contracts. Based on 15,368 valued Transport Equipment tenders in our corpus.

When this comes round again

East Lothian Council has published 7 Transport Equipment notices, about every 6 months. On that rhythm the next one is expected around October 2026.

61% of East Lothian Council’s awards go to a supplier it has used before.

Which is the argument for getting on the list rather than winning this one. The incumbent is rarely the last winner — it is the roster. See the retention odds by category →


You'll hear when East Lothian Council publishes Transport Equipment work again. One email per notice, unsubscribe in one click. We don’t use your address for anything else.

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The brief

East Lothian Council ("ELC") are responsible for the procurement of service transport contracts to meet the education and social care needs as well as other passenger requirements.

Most of the transport will be within East Lothian area.

ELC is setting up a Dynamic Purchasing System ("DPS") to procure these contracts.

A DPS is completely electronic system and is similar to a framework agreement but a key difference is that, unlike a framework agreement, suppliers can join a DPS at any time.

Contracts operated through this DPS can generally be undertaken by taxis, private hire cars, minibuses and buses, including the requirement for those of these vehicles to be capable of carrying passengers in wheelchairs.

The DPS will be split into the following categories: -Category 1: MPVs (5-8 seats), including salon cars (4 seats). -Category 2: MPV- Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV)- (5-8 seats) -Category 3: Minibus (9-16 seats), including wheelchair accessible vehicles -Category 4: Vehicles above 17 seats Contracts under the DPS will be awarded following mini competitions.

Requirements

What the notice asks for

01

East Lothian Council ("ELC") are responsible

East Lothian Council ("ELC") are responsible for the procurement of service transport contracts to meet the education and social care needs as well as other passenger requirements.

02

Contracts operated through this DPS can generally

Contracts operated through this DPS can generally be undertaken by taxis, private hire cars, minibuses and buses, including the requirement for those of these vehicles to be capable of carrying passengers in wheelchairs.

Sentences from the notice that state an obligation, surfaced automatically and shown in the order they appear. Not an exhaustive list — always confirm against the tender documents.

The gates

What this notice demands of you

2 named, none in explicit obligation language. Each one is quoted from the notice.

Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)Frameworks & routes to market
ELC is setting up a Dynamic Purchasing System ("DPS") to procure these contracts.
Framework agreement (any)Frameworks & routes to market
A DPS is completely electronic system and is similar to a framework agreement but a key difference is that, unlike a framework agreement, suppliers can join a DPS at any time.

Matched against the notice text, so this is a floor — the tender pack will demand things the notice never mentions. “Says must” means the quoted sentence itself used obligation language; anything ambiguous is left as a mention.

What it takes to bid this

4580 daysof bid-team effort
£30.8k£54.8kat typical UK bid-team rates

Typical UK bid effort for the £10m+ band — an estimate, not a quote.

Qualify & bid/no-bid ~10% · SQ / PQQ ~20% · Written response ~55% · Review & presentation ~15%

Typical for this category — confirm against the ITT pack

  • Show at bidComparable references / case studies
  • Hold at bidFinancial standing (accounts, often ~2× contract value turnover)
  • Hold at bidInsurance cover (PL / EL, often PI)
  • Show at bidSocial value commitments

Hold at bid = pass/fail conditions of participation. Show at bid = scored in the quality response. Plan for delivery = contract obligations from day one.

Buyer intelligence

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The full intelligence dossier

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Source & provenance
OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06647e
Stage
tender · Open
Source
Find a Tender
Buyer ref
034979-2026
View the original notice on Find a Tender

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source data © Crown copyright.

Market context

Who wins this kind of work

The suppliers and buyers around this opportunity — drawn from official award data. Drag to orbit; click a node to explore.

Top suppliers & buyers in Transport Equipment

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East Lothian Council’s tender network

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