- Home
- Tenders
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- The West Midlands Franchising Scheme for Buses
The West Midlands Franchising Scheme for Buses
AI Summary
The West Midlands Combined Authority has announced a programme to transition the region’s bus network from a deregulated regime to a fully franchised model under public control. Aiming to establish a coherent, integrated public transport system, the scheme will allow Transport for West Middles (TfWM) to design routes, set operating hours, and prescribe service standards before awarding franchise contracts to operators that meet the required performance and reliability criteria. The initiative is part of a broader vision to enhance bus services and integrate them seamlessly with other modes of transport across the West Midlands.
Procurement of the franchise contracts will be governed by the Procurement Act 2023 and will proceed through a Utilities Dynamic Market approach. This market allows prospective operators to submit a single pre‑qualification application, after which successful candidates remain eligible to bid across all three planned tranches, reducing repeated market re‑launches. The bidding phases will use a competitive flexible procedure that may include a negotiation stage, providing the authority with the flexibility to refine contract terms and responses to operator needs. The three tranches are scheduled for Autumn 2027, Summer 2028 and Spring 2029, with a mix of large and small franchise blocks to be defined during the market engagement event held on 15 April 2026.
All prospective operators must comply with the standards set by TfWM and the requirements of the Procurement Act 2023, with service levels stipulated by the franchising prospectus.
Description
The objective of the Bus Franchising Programme is to move the West Midlands bus network from a deregulated system into public control. Successful transition will create the foundations for wider improvements to bus services and full integration with other modes of transport as set out in the Full Franchising Assessment (FFA) and detailed further in the Bus Franchising Prospectus. These support the overall vision for improving public transport in West Midlands.
Under the future Franchising Operating Model, Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) will design routes, specify hours of operation, set service standards and award Operator contracts following competitive procurements.
The procurement of franchise contracts will be governed by the Procurement Act 2023 (PA23). The recommended route to market within the Bus Franchising Case is a 'Utilities Dynamic Market' (UDM).
The UDM will allow the WMCA to pre-qualify prospective Operators. This will enable a prospective operator to submit a single pre-qualification response and, if successful, to remain pre-qualified for the remainder of the Franchising programme, entitling it to bid in all of the Tranches, reducing the need for WMCA to go back out to market each time.
For the bidding phase, a competitive flexible procedure will be undertaken due to the flexibility it provides the WMCA, including being able to include a negotiation stage to the process.
The key dates for each Tranche operations are below:
• Tranche 1 – Autumn 2027
• Tranche 2 – Summer 2028
• Tranche 3 – Spring 2029
For the procurement process, there will be a mix of large and small franchises for Operators to be involved in. This information will be discussed on the Bus Operator Market Engagement Day.
Estimated date of publication of contract notice: 2026-06-29T23:59:59+01:00
Contract location: UKG3
Engagement process description
WMCA will be hosting an in-person Bus Operator Market Engagement event on Wednesday 15th April 2026, in the Birmingham City Centre region.
The purpose of the day will be to:
• Provide advance visibility of our proposed franchising programme and associated procurement timelines
• Share initial information on our contract structure, service scope and delivery expectations
• Gather feedback from the market to help inform and refine our procurement approach
• Understand operator appetite, capacity and potential barriers to participation
The event is open to Bus Operators and a maximum of 2 individuals per Operator organisation will be allowed to attend the PME event.
Interested Operators should confirm their attendance to busreform@tfwm.org.uk and Emily.scott@wmca.org.uk by no later than 5pm on Friday 13th March, following which they will be sent an invitation with all the key details of the Market Engagement event shortly after.
This notice does not constitute a call for competition. Transport operators will not be prejudiced by any response or failure to respond to this notice and a response to this notice does not guarantee any invitation to participate in this event or any future procurement.
Transport operators shall be responsible for their own costs incurred in connection with this market engagement exercise.
The Bus Operator Market Engagement Day is not intended for consultancies, equipment suppliers or providers of supporting technical services.
Lot: 1
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted: En