Bus Contract Management System for Welsh Franchised Services

Transport for Wales (TfW) is seeking a supplier to provide, implement, and support a Contract Management System (CMS) to manage franchised bus services across Wales. The Welsh bus network is transitioning from a deregulated model of approximately 700 individually-tendered routes to a franchised model by 2030, with approximately 120 total contracts managed through a four-phase regional rollout (South West Wales, North Wales, South East Wales, Mid Wales). The CMS must support five core contract management processes: contract recording and compliance, contract changes, performance management with incentive and deduction regimes, operator payments, and asset reporting for fleet and depots. The system will include four key features: a contract register, performance management module, payment performance calculator, and operator access portal. It must integrate with up to seven TfW systems and support a minimum of 150 licenses (at least 30 internal TfW users and 120 external operator users) with tiered role-based access controls. The supplier will deliver implementation, training for TfW teams and approximately 100 bus operators, and ongoing support and maintenance. The contract will be awarded under the Competitive Flexible Procedure of the Procurement Act 2023 for an initial five-year term with options to extend up to three additional 12-month periods (maximum eight years total). The solution must be fully operational by June 2027.