Skip to main content

Contracts and Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)

Page Contents

We have routes that potential suppliers can quote to deliver at various times through the year. The services we require include mainstream buses, mini-buses, taxis and specialist vehicles.

Tendering and procurement

Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) uses a dynamic purchasing system (DPS) for education and social care transport.

To quote for education and social care transport services, businesses must register on our e-tendering system, ProContract, and complete an online questionnaire. The system lets new entrants join at any time and you can specify the service that you are interested in. Providers who meet the required quality standard move onto a list of approved suppliers.

View our advert for this opportunity on the ProContract website and register or log-in: Education and social care transport service opportunities. You will find helpful guidance documents to start your application process. These will assist you in becoming an approved provider. Once approved, you will then be invited to quote for routes.

New operators

To join the CCC DPS, please follow the instructions below:

You will need to register on ProContract, then join the DPS. Download the following useful guides for further information.

Guide 1 – How to guide - Registering - Instructions on registering with ProContracts

Guide 2 – How to guide – How to join the DPS - A general user guide (please note on page 5 to Find Opportunities, under portals drop down box, search ‘Cambridge City’ not LGSS as the guide instructs).

Once registered search for project: - 21034 Social and Education transport Services Dynamic Purchasing System 2021 (DN559834), Reference: DN596218. For help you can visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/business/business-with-the-council/education-and-social-care-transport-service-opportunities.

Once you have applied to join the DPS and completed the online questionnaire, the Passenger Transport Contracts team will review your application.

If you meet the initial criteria, the Contracts team will pass your details on to the Disclosure Barring Service team for an operator check. You will need to complete an operator form and submit further details regarding insurance, bank details and licensing.

These documents are then sent on to the Contracts team. Once reviewed and approved, you will be able to join ProContracts and can start bidding on tranches.

The timescale for joining the DPS, from initial application to being able to bid on routes, can vary from 14 working days to one month. If we need more information or the details given are incorrect, it may take longer to onboard a new operator.

DPS Enhancements

We are running a project within our Passenger Transformation Project that is looking at making enhancements to the DPS.

The Passenger Transport team is looking to review and change how we deliver the DPS service. This could see a move from a 'one size fits all' approach to a more eclectic approach with Open tenders, or Frameworks.

This project is at the early stages, but areas we feel we need to be better at are:

  • Compliance – e.g. safeguarding, training.
  • Clear process on changing of company names e.t.c.
  • Simpler contracts.
  • Understanding handbacks and reducing these.
  • Demand management.
  • Better control of supply chains (use of sub-contractors/owner drivers)
  • Better finance processes.
  • Reducing variations of costs through contracts to help with finance processes and quicker payments.
  • Minimum standards for operators who work with us.
  • Adaptation that allow us to deliver different services, for example: single supplier models, or batching routes together

Contracts FAQs

Yes, it is mandatory for all drivers and personal assistants to be cleared through Cambridgeshire County Council’s DBS system prior to undertaking a route.

Any questions or requests for further information relating to a tender must be raised through the ProContract system, not to the Passenger Transport Service's general inbox (Education, Transport Team), or to individual Officers. To do this, follow the steps below:

  1. Select the tender that you wish to raise a question/information request about and select the correspondence tab.
  2. Choose ‘Create Correspondence’, type in your question/information request about and submit.

When anyone asks for clarification, we provide the answer to everyone who expresses an interest in the tender. This is to ensure that everyone who bids has the same information and that the process is fair and transparent.

There is no limit to the number of questions/information requests that can be submitted. However, there will be a clarification deadline date. This date will be up to one week before the deadline for receipt of tenders. We are not obliged to respond to any questions/information requests once the clarification deadline has passed.

For general enquiries or contract-specific questions, please email Ed.Contracts@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Regarding live tenders/Tranches, please submit a message via the Tranche on ProContracts.

Yes, service providers must update the authority where there is a change to their operating details.

This includes any changes to:

  • Company name
  • Company directors
  • Contact details (email or phone number)
  • Operating address

To update your application please log on to ProContract and resubmit your application to join the Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS). This will be assessed with all applications every week the DPS round closes.

All changes to a DPS operator’s circumstances must be notified to the authority via updating their application on ProContract and submitting this for review and approval.

It is possible that the information provided could see the DPS operator being removed from the DPS until their circumstances change back in line with the requirements of the DPS.

DPS operators who fail to notify the authority of any changes, may see them been rejected from the DPS and barred from applying for an indeterminate period.

Yes, the authority should be informed at least two months before any finalisation date for a merger or acquisition. The authority may request a meeting to discuss the company’s operational changes. They may also outline what actions may be needed to meet internal requirements to continue as a service provider.

The authority will monitor the performance of Service Providers through Monitoring Team visits to schools. They will also gather feedback from parents and schools regarding service provision and quality. If the service provider fails to meet the required standards, Performance Deductions, Performance Points and liquidated damages will be imposed. These are set out in Schedule 4 of the Call-Off Terms and Conditions.

Yes, all DPS agreements and Call-Off contracts are issued through the electronic Esign system. A link will be sent to your email when a contract is ready to sign, allowing you time to review the details and electronically sign the document. As the contract is issued via Esign, there is no need to print and return. Please ensure you review and sign the document within 7 days of receiving the link.