CPV 60-1 Road transport services

About CPV 60-1

CPV 60-1 is the Common Procurement Vocabulary group covering road transport services. It sits inside division 60 and is where the great majority of UK public sector passenger transport procurement actually appears.

The group covers home-to-school transport, transport for children and adults with special educational needs and disabilities, adult social care and day service transport, community transport, taxi and private hire contracts, supported local bus services, and general passenger road transport.

This is one of the most genuinely accessible markets in public procurement. Contracts are usually let route by route or in small lots, the licensing requirements are achievable for a small operator, and many authorities operate dynamic purchasing systems that admit new operators continuously rather than only at recompetition.

Active CPV 60-1 tenders

Home-to-school transport dominates the flow and follows the academic year, with the main procurement cycle timed to award well before September. Authorities typically tender many individual routes at once, and an operator can bid for one or for dozens.

Special educational needs transport is procured alongside it but has distinct requirements, since it frequently involves passenger assistants, wheelchair accessible vehicles, and consistency of driver for children who need routine. Adult social care transport and community transport run on similar terms with different passenger needs.

Active sub-category	Typical procurement route	Primary buyer pattern
Home-to-school routes	Route-by-route DPS or framework	County or unitary council
SEND transport	Framework with individual allocation	Council children's services
Adult social care transport	Framework call-off	Council adult services
Taxi and private hire contracts	Dynamic purchasing system	Council or health body
Supported bus services	Route subsidy contract	Transport authority or council

Top buyers procuring CPV 60-1

Councils with education and social care duties are the buyers. In our own corpus Leicester City Council is the most frequent publisher under this group by a clear margin, followed by Perth and Kinross Council, Transport Scotland, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, North Ayrshire Council, and Scottish Borders Council.

The presence of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and Transport Scotland reflects the supported bus and regional transport side rather than school transport. Elsewhere the pattern is consistent: upper-tier and unitary authorities procuring statutory passenger transport, with the largest volumes in areas combining rural geography and dispersed schools.

Typical contract values under CPV 60-1

The median notice sits above a million pounds, but this figure is misleading for small operators and should not deter them. It reflects framework and multi-route procurements advertised as a whole. Individual routes are commonly worth tens of thousands of pounds a year, and an operator with three or four vehicles can build a viable business from a handful of them.

Contract length is typically aligned to the academic year with options to extend, which gives reasonable revenue visibility. Fuel and driver cost movements are the main commercial risks over the term, and operators should check whether the contract includes any indexation, since many do not and a multi-year fixed price carries real exposure.

Compliance and certifications for CPV 60-1 bidders

Operator licensing is the fundamental requirement: a public service vehicle operator licence for bus and coach work, or local authority taxi and private hire licensing for smaller vehicles, with a transport manager holding the relevant certificate of professional competence where required. Buyers verify the licence covers the number of vehicles proposed.

Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks are required for drivers and passenger assistants carrying children or vulnerable adults, and most authorities require registration with the update service so status can be rechecked. Safeguarding training to a locally specified standard is normal. Wheelchair accessible vehicles must meet accessibility requirements, and drivers must be trained in securement, which buyers frequently test at inspection. Vehicle age limits and emissions standards are commonly specified, particularly in areas with clean air zones. Operators should expect vehicle and record audits during the contract rather than only at award, covering maintenance records, driver hours, and licence currency.

Frequently asked questions

How do I start bidding for school transport routes?

Identify the authorities covering your operating area and find out whether they run a dynamic purchasing system, which many do. Those admit operators continuously, so you can apply at any time rather than waiting for a tender round. Get the licensing, insurance, safeguarding checks, and vehicle documentation in order first, because these are pass or fail requirements and assembling them during a live tender is difficult. Then bid for a small number of routes you can definitely serve, since failing to deliver a route in the first weeks of term causes serious problems for the authority and for your standing with them.

Why do some authorities use dynamic purchasing systems rather than frameworks?

Because passenger transport demand changes constantly. Children move, needs change, schools change, and routes have to be added or altered mid-year. A dynamic purchasing system stays open to new operators throughout its life, which lets the authority bring in capacity when a new route appears rather than waiting for the next procurement. For operators this is an advantage: there is no need to time an application to a tender window, and a new entrant can join at any point.

What makes SEND transport different from mainstream school routes?

The passengers, and therefore the requirements. Children with special educational needs frequently need a consistent driver and passenger assistant, specific vehicle types, secure seating or harnesses, and route timings tailored to individual tolerance. Buyers evaluate the operator's approach to consistency of staffing, training in supporting children with particular needs, and communication with parents and schools. Rates are usually higher than mainstream routes to reflect the additional resource, but so are the expectations, and changes of driver are a common source of complaint that operators should plan to avoid.

Should I watch this group or the parent division?

Watch the parent division, which captures both. A great deal of passenger transport is coded to this group specifically, but multi-modal procurements, patient transport, and freight sit at division level or in other groups. Since group codes sit inside the division, monitoring division 60 catches everything relevant, and for most passenger operators the volume is manageable enough to review without further filtering.