Awarded contract

Provision of Consultancy for Strategic and Operational Delivery of £3 National Bus Fare Cap

Details

Buyer: Department for Transport (DFT)
Supplier(s): Ernst & Young LLP (EY)
Value: £3,000,000
Duration: 2 years
Topic: Public road transport services
Published: 26 September 2025
Source: uk:contracts_finder

Tender description

Following the announcement in the June 2025 Spending Review, the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Transport confirmed that the £3 National Bus Fare Cap Scheme (£3 NBFC), which had been scheduled to end in December 2025, will now be extended until 31 March 2027.This discretionary scheme, which has been in place since 2023, supports affordable travel by capping single bus fares outside London and has been a key element of the Government's post-pandemic bus policy to support local services. This contract will support the strategic and operational delivery of the £3 NBFC scheme and in preparing an eventual exit strategy from the scheme. VAT Unknown.

Timeline

Completed: Award date22 September 2025
Completed: Award published26 September 2025
Current notice
Next: Contract expiry date31 December 2027in 14 months

About the buyer

Department for Transport (DfT) is a central government department, with commercial work spanning road, rail, aviation and maritime transport across the United Kingdom. The Group Commercial Directorate leads procurement for DfT from Great Minster House. National Highways, HS2 Ltd and Network Rail each run their own separate procurement as arm's-length bodies of DfT. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency also buy separately.

Over the past 5 years, most of DfT's contract awards have been in business services, architectural and engineering services and research and development.

Decision makers

Connect with the people behind this procurement.

Job title	Phone number	Work email
Head of Procurement	+44 •••• ••••••	••••••••@department-for-transport-dft.gov
Commercial Director	+44 •••• ••••••	••••••••@department-for-transport-dft.gov
Procurement Manager	+44 •••• ••••••	••••••••@department-for-transport-dft.gov
Category Lead	+44 •••• ••••••	••••••••@department-for-transport-dft.gov
Senior Buyer	+44 •••• ••••••	••••••••@department-for-transport-dft.gov
Contracts Manager	+44 •••• ••••••	••••••••@department-for-transport-dft.gov