Tender

Management of Norwich Bus Station and Park and Ride Sites

Norfolk County Council

UK4: Tender notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-037982

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-050431 (view related notices)

Published 7 July 2025, 4:11pm

Scope

Reference

NCCT43085

Description

The Council seeks to appoint an Operator with experience of public transport to provide a fully managed service with a single point of responsibility for managing and delivering all of the specified Services they are contracted to deliver across the Bus Station site.

For the purposes of this tender, references to public transport have the following meaning 'a system of vehicles such as buses and trains that operate at regular times on fixed routes and are used by the public'.

The Operator will also be required to undertake facilities management and maintenance of the Norwich Park and Ride sites.

Total value (estimated)

£4,500,000 excluding VAT
£5,400,000 including VAT

Above the relevant threshold

Contract dates (estimated)

5 April 2026 to 5 April 2031
Possible extension to 4 April 2036
10 years

Description of possible extension:

This contract is for an initial term of 5 years plus up to a further 5 years at the Council's discretion. The estimated value in this notice is for the full 10 years of the contract not including indexation.

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

63712100 - Bus station services
79993000 - Building and facilities management services

Contract locations

UKH15 - Norwich and East Norfolk
UKH16 - North and West Norfolk
UKH17 - Breckland and South Norfolk

Justification for not using lots

Following an assessment of the information available on the current contract, it was determined that splitting the contract into two Lots was not viable for the following reasons:

1) TUPE - the current contract is a single contract. Establishing where liability for staff sits in a two Lot contract was deemed to be onerous.

2) Management Costs - it was determined that any savings generated by splitting the contract into Lots, would be consumed through additional management costs for the Council and the providers.

Participation

Technical ability conditions of participation

Bidders must be able to demonstrate a proven track record and extensive knowledge and experience in providing the following to Local Authorities or other large organisations within the last 3 years:

• Experience of operational management within the public transport sector*.

• Experience of provision of a face-to-face customer facing helpdesk

• Experience of managing a contract with responsibility for delivering hard and soft facilities management, managing statutory health and safety responsibilities, provision of security and maintenance on a publicly accessible site.

*For the purposes of this tender, references to public transport have the following meaning 'a system of vehicles such as buses and trains that operate at regular times on fixed routes and are used by the public'.

Submission

Enquiry deadline

30 July 2025, 11:00am

Submission type

Tenders

Tender submission deadline

11 August 2025, 11:00am

Submission address and any special instructions

https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/Tenders/Current.

This procurement will be managed electronically via the Council`s e-procurement system. To participate in this procurement, applicants must first be registered on the system at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc. Full instructions for registration and use of the system can be found at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/BuyerProfiles. Once registered you will be able to see the procurement project under the `tenders` section and `express an interest` to view the documentation. If you encounter any difficulties whilst using the system you can contact the In-tend support team by phoning +44 8442728810 or e-mailing support@in-tend.co.uk.

Tenders may be submitted electronically

Yes

Languages that may be used for submission

English

Award decision date (estimated)

12 December 2025

Award criteria

This table displays the award criteria of the lot
Name	Description	Type
Quality	The quality criteria are 1. TUPE (Pass/ fail), 2. Contract Delivery (5%), 3. Contract Management (4%), 4. Mobilisation (2%), 5. Maintenance and Repairs (5%), 6. Reporting (2%), 7. Business Continuity... (3%), 8. Health and Safety (5%), 9. Quality Assurance (2%), 10. Environmental (2%).	Quality

Weighting description

Quality is 30% and price is 70%. Price will be for mobilisation, management costs, operation and maintenance costs.

Evaluation will be for the first year of the contract.

Other information

Description of risks to contract performance

Norfolk County Council has joined the government's Devolution Priority Programme.

This process has the potential to lead to the establishment of a county combined authority for Norfolk and Suffolk, with strategic powers, headed by an elected mayor.

Government has also invited participation by Norfolk in Local Government Review. This process has the potential to lead to unitary local government in Norfolk. One of these changes could happen without the other. The contract may be assigned or novated to any successor authority(ies) to Norfolk County Council or to any joint body incorporating or formed by any such successor. The County Council or a successor authority or joint body may order services on behalf of other local authorities serving any area within Norfolk's current geographical boundaries.

The Council may add or remove any of the Services from any of the facilities and to add any additional Services or buildings not included in this tender, at a later date. This may include the removal or inclusion of Park and Ride sites from the Contract.

Applicable trade agreements

Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

Conflicts assessment prepared/revised

Yes

Procedure

Procedure type

Competitive flexible procedure

Competitive flexible procedure description

The Council will be using the Competitive Flexible Procedure as defined in the Procurement Act 2023. The process will be as follows: -

1. Bidders will complete the Invitation to Initial Tender (including pricing) and submit in accordance with the timelines at Section 5 of the Invitation to Initial Tender.

2. The Invitation to Initial Tender must provide a compliant response in respect of the minimum mandatory requirements as set out below:

• Norwich Bus Station Operational Management and Site and Premises Maintenance under a lease agreement

• Facilities Management and Maintenance of the Norwich Park and Ride Sites

3. Each Tender response will be assessed in accordance with the stages detailed below. The Council may decide to undertake these assessment stages in any order or to undertake one or more stages concurrently. This means that if your response fails at any stage of the ITT evaluation process, there may not necessarily be feedback on other stages. However, you will be provided with feedback on any scores you are awarded prior to your tender being rejected in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023.

4. If your response is assessed as not meeting the minimum requirements and/ or conditions of participation, it will be rejected and assessed no further.

5. If there are 3 bidders or less who pass Form A (Details of Applicant), B (Grounds for Exclusion), C (Compliance with minimum Standards) and D (Willingness and ability to comply with contractual requirements) of the Invitation to Initial Tender then those bidders will be invited to participate in dialogue and submit a final tender.

6. If there are more than 3 bidders who pass Form A, B, C and D, then the Council will evaluate the responses to Form F (not including pricing) and will take through the top scored 3 bids. The Initial Tenders will be scored in accordance with the process set out in this Invitation to Initial Tender.

7. During dialogue, bidders will be able to refine their bid (including pricing) and the Council reserves the right to amend the scope, pricing spreadsheet, terms and conditions and lease agreement before requesting Final Tenders.

8. At the close of dialogue, bidders will be issued with the Invitation to Final Tender (including the final scope, pricing spreadsheet, terms and conditions and lease agreement for Norwich Bus Station).

9. Bidders should note that the Council may request a further version of the pricing list and/ or raise clarifications on your quality response before dialogue.

The Council reserves the right to accept an Initial Tender should a bid or bids capable of acceptance be received. In this instance, pricing would also be assessed to generate a final Quality/ Price score.

Documents

Documents to be provided after the tender notice

Appendix 5 - TUPE Information, will only be released to Bidders via Intend when a signed Appendix 2 is received.

Clarification documents will also be issued via https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkc

Contracting authority

Norfolk County Council

Public Procurement Organisation Number: PDYH-3246-XWTR

County Hall, Martineau Lane

Norwich

NR1 2DH

United Kingdom

Email: sourcingteam@norfolk.gov.uk

Region: UKH15 - Norwich and East Norfolk

Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government