Content

Salford City Council – Record of
Decision
 
I Paul Dennett, City Mayor,
accept the recommendation of the Procurement Board and in exercise
of the powers contained within the Council Constitution do hereby
approve:
 
·    
an exception to allow the extension of the Dynamic
Purchasing System for SEND home to school transport, as detailed in
the table below:
 

Detail required

Answers

 

 

Title/Description of Contracted
Service/Supply/Project

Home to School (SEN) Transport Provision

Procurement Reference Number (DN and
CR, supplied by Procurement)

DPS Transport Sept 2016 – Aug 2026

Name of Successful
Contractor

Various -
AA Buses
ABA Travel Ltd
ABC Coaches Ltd
Alpha Luxury Minibuses Ltd
Auto Travel
Bestway Minibuses Ltd
Britannia Minibuses Ltd
Chesters Coaches Ltd
Class Act Travel
D & H Enterprises
Excel Minibus Travel
Executive Travell Ltd
Fab Travel Ltd
G Wakefield Taxis
Greenmount Travel Ltd
Gurdev Singh
H to S Travels Ltd T/A Central Cars and
Buses
Haroon Shamim
HATS Group Ltd (LSR Management Ltd)
ID Travel
Imperial Transport
Jason Scott
Jones Executive Coaches Ltd
KVN Travel Ltd
Liddle Executive Hire LTD
Lindley Travel
M Shamim
Mainline8’s
Marmion Taxis
Martin Armson T/A Martin's School Runs
MC Travel
Mcr Blackcab Ltd
MDS Minibuses (Manchester) Ltd
MDT T/A Lynch
Mikes Merc
Mohammed Saleem Saghir
National Airport Travel
No 1 Private Hire Executive Travel
Northwest Minibuses Ltd
Pal Cars Ltd
Paul Mackin
Paul Tyler
R Hughes Travel
R&G Taxis
RS Tyrer Ltd
Safdar Ali
Saltax Ltd
Solomon Travel Solutions t/a Schools
Direct
Scotts Cars
Shafqat Nawaz
Swinton Travel Ltd
Taxis Transfers Ltd
Tpt2School Ltd t/a School Transport
Solutions
Travel By Myles
Valley Luxury Minibuses Ltd
Vonnies Wheels
Wasim Tahzeem
WP Taxis

Supplier Registration Number

(to be supplied by
Procurement)

Proclass Classification No.

(to be completed by
procurement)

 

Type of organisation

(to be supplied by
Procurement)

Choose an item.

Status of Organisation

(to be supplied by  Procurement)

Choose an item.

Contract Value (£)

N/A

Total Contract Value including extensions
(£)

N/A

Contract Duration

10 years

Contract Start Date

01/09/2016

Contract End Date

31/08/2026

Optional Extension Period 1

12 months
(01/09/2026 – 31/08/2027)

Optional Extension Period 2

N/A

Who will approve each Extension
Period?

Procurement Board (extension >
£150k)

Contact Officer (Name &
number)

Cathy Starbuck

Lead Service Group

Children's Services

Reason for CSO Exception: The goods / services /
works are only obtainable from one provider and there is no other
provider available to allow genuine competition

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: The execution of works or
the supply of goods or services is controlled by a statutory
body

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: Delivers Best Value to the
Council

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: Special education, health
or social care contracts, if it is considered in the
Council’s best interests and to meet the
Council’s obligations under relevant legislation

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: The execution of works or
the supply of goods and services is required so urgently as not to
permit compliance with the requirements of competition

Tick if it applies ?

Reason for CSO Exception: Security works where the
publication of documents or details in the tendering process could
prejudice the security of SCC and Salford residents

Tick if it applies ?

 
 
The reasons are:
·    
The DPS is due to expire in August 2026 and does not
contain an option to extend.
·    
The current DPS performs very efficiently allowing
for timely contract tendering and award due to pre-qualification on
the framework of providers. Route tenders are sent out throughout
the year to all providers on the framework and providers submit
bids for consideration and award. It is open to new suppliers at
any time, fostering competition and encouraging the
market.
·    
SEN transport is part of the Innovate work programme
in the Council and transformation work is underway. A review of
transport is underway to ensure effective use of resources,
considering centralised pick-up, route optimisation and review of
the Post 16 Transport.
·    
The LA is currently exploring alternative ways to
support parents and service users to attend school in line with
statutory duty. The review of transport and proposed changes will
require a number of areas of consultation with affected parties and
the terms and conditions of contract for providers may be reviewed
and revised in light of the outcome of this transformation
work.
·    
An extension is seen to provide the best value
option to the Council as it extends a DPS which has worked well for
the previous nine and a half years and has enabled the Council to
meet its statutory duties whilst providing competition for the
procurement of services.
 
Options considered and rejected were:
·    
To allow the current DPS to come to an end in August
202 with no replacement. This option was rejected as there would be
a risk that the Local Authority would not be able to deliver its
statutory duties
 
Assessment of risk:
If the Dynamic
Purchasing System was not in place the Local Authority would be at
risk of being able to deliver its statutory duties in terms of
providing home to school transport for children and young people
with SEND.
 
The source of funding is: The
Budget that will meet the cost of the scheme.
 
Legal advice obtained from Shared Legal Service:
The DPS was procured under the
Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (“PCR 2015”). Whilst
the PCR 2015 have been replaced by the Procurement Act 2023 for new
procurement exercises, they continue to apply to existing contracts
save that any DPS must be extended by 23 February 2026 and that a
DPS must expire (if it has not done so already) by 23 February 2029
at the latest.
 
Regulation 34 of the PCR 2015
permits the Council to extend the term of a DPS.  If it chooses to do so then it should publish a
notice of the kind used initially for the call for competition for
the dynamic purchasing system (regulation 34(28)).
 
The DPS has recently been
opened up to the market and current participants will continue to
be afforded an opportunity to bid for routes which come
available.  There is unlikely to be new
entrants into the marketplace affected by a decision to extend the
DPS and therefore the risk of extending the DPS is
minimal.
 
Under the Councils Contractual
Standing Orders, where there is no provision to extend within the
original contract, all approvals for extensions, shall be referred
to the Lead Member and Procurement Board. In any such instance
officers should treat the matter as an exception.
 
Financial advice obtained by: Natalie Mannion Finance Manager:
The proposed
one?year extension to
the SEND Transport Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) has no direct
additional financial cost attached to the extension
itself.
 
The DPS functions as an
enabling framework rather than a fixed?value contract, meaning:
·    
There is no upfront or contractual extension
fee.
·    
Costs only arise when individual transport routes
are tendered and awarded (“first past the post”
mini?competitions).
·    
Suppliers will continue to bid on a
route?by?route basis
during the extension period, so expenditure will continue in line
with the agreed route costings set through each
mini?tender.
Because the service is going
through significant transformation and the market is open for new
suppliers throughout the extension period, the financial impact is
essentially:
·    
Business?as?usual operational
spend on transport routes, drawn from the existing revenue
budget.
·    
No increase in financial commitment resulting purely
from extending the DPS.
·    
Avoided procurement costs in the short term, as
re?tendering is paused
until the wider service redesign and regional benchmarking work
have concluded.
·    
Maintains flexibility to secure
best?value pricing via
mini?tenders rather
than locking into long?term fixed?price
arrangements during a period of change.
 
Overall, the extension does not
in itself create a new financial pressure; costs will continue to
fluctuate depending on demand, route requirements and market
pricing, as they do currently. The extension simply preserves the
mechanism used to procure routes while transport transformation
work is completed.
 
Procurement advice obtained by Michelle White – Category
Manager:
The Home to School (SEN) Transport Provision was procured using
Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) for a 10-year period
with no option to extend. It is permissible under Regulation 34 of
the PCR 2015 to extend the DPS for 12 months, however the
Procurement Act 2023 (PA23) stipulates that a DPS under PCR 2015
must be extended by 23rd February 2026.
 
Procurement to publish a F14
– Notice for changes or additional information on Find a
Tender Service to formally announce the extension.
 
HR advice obtained: N/A.
 
Climate change implications obtained: N/A.
 
The following documents have
been used to assist the decision process:
·    

SEND Strategy
·    

Home to School Transport
Policy
·    

Post 16 Transport
policy
 
Contact
details
Contact Officer: Cathy Starbuck, Director Education and
Inclusion
Telephone number:0161 778 0183
 
·    
This matter is also subject to consider by the Lead
Member for Children’s Services
·    
The Lead Member has been consulted and is supportive
of the proposed contract.
·    
The appropriate Scrutiny Committee to call-in the
decision is the Children’s Scrutiny Committee
 

Signed:    Paul
Dennett      Dated:   9 February 2026.
         
       City
Mayor
 

FOR DEMOCRATIC SERVICES USE
ONLY
 

This decision was published on
9 February 2026.
This decision will come in force
at 4pm on 16 February 2026 unless it is called-in in accordance with the
Decision Making Process Rules.