Issue details

Proposed decision

That the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport agree to:

Extend the current DPS framework for the Home to School Transport (taxi) SS 15124 from its current expiry of 31^st October 2026  to 23^rd February 2029, with a view to procure a new commercial strategy under the new Procurement Act 2023.

·     Reason for the decision

The current DPS framework expires on the 31^st of December 2026 and under the new Procurement Act 2023, there is no like for like replacement.  To provide suitable time for alternative procurement frameworks to be fully explored and a new commercial strategy to be developed, it is proposed to extend the current DPS to 23^rd February 2029.  Such as extension is allowed under the Procurement Act 2015.

·     Background

Kent County Council (KCC) has a statutory duty to provide home to school transport for eligible children of compulsory school age under the Education Act 1996.  In addition, under Adult Social Care, it supports clients with transport to a range of support functions.

The Home to School Transport (taxi) DPS, was put in place to enable the service to procure contracted services, for vehicles with 8 seats or less.  Although named taxi, the framework is open to operators with hackney carriage (taxi), private hire, school only private hire or bus operators focused on specialist services.

The framework is used to procure transport for children and adults, covering SEN school transport, SEN FE transport, Adult Social Care and specialist educational support.  These are bespoke transport arrangements, which could be a single trip, a range of trips or a fixed period, up to a number of years. 

Due to the nature of the transport required, tenders can be on a planned cycle ie transport into one educational establishment every three years, to a need that has to be covered in 24 hours.  Tenders can be released to the market in lots or as single needs.  The volume of tenders is significant and there as are service agreements in place with both CYPE and Adult Social Care, in respect of transport response times. 

The DPS allows the Public Transport Team to run competitive and PCR2015-compliant tenders with pre-qualified operators.

The framework was determined as the most effective route to market in 2016.  This determination was made, based on how transport contracts were tendered, the timescales sometimes involved and the volume of tenders undertaken.  In addition feedback was sought from other local authority transport teams, in particular their preferred procurement routes and benefits of.  Approval of the route to market involved full engagement with a range of stakeholders across the authority

When the DPS was set up in 2016, the Public Contract Regulations 2015 applied. However, as of 24th February 2025, any new procurement or purchasing mechanism is subject to the Procurement Act 2023, which provides new procurement processes but does not have a directly comparable replacement for Dynamic Purchasing Systems. Under the Procurement Act 2023 (PA23), there is no longer the option to establish new Dynamic Purchasing Systems. However, two new arrangements were introduced: Open Frameworks and Dynamic Markets. In addition, ‘Guidance: transitional and saving arrangements’ was published to advise on managing the changeover from the previous legislation, including the lifespan of extant DPSs. With the current DPS set to expire at the end of next year, several options for fulfilling KCC’s statutory obligations have been identified and evaluated.

The service still believe that a DPS provides a procurement framework, that meets its needs in terms of being procurement compliant, flexible, allows planned tendering but also short term tendering, even for urgent needs. Therefore to not have a comparable replacement for the DPS under the new Procurement Act 2023, poses a risk to how the service tenders transport and ultimately users.

This is not an issue unique to Kent, a number of local transport authorities (those tender transport contracts) have conveyed to national government the risk of not having a DPS replacement and the limits that the procurement options available bring to transport tendering.  It is hope that this may see changes brought forward by national government.

Extending the term of the current DPS would minimise service disruption by retaining processes which KCC staff and Suppliers are already familiar with. Additionally, it offers relative stability in the medium-term, while the potential impacts of Local Government Reform crystallise. Whilst this still does not directly resolve the matter of the route to market beyond 23rd February 2029, it does offer an interim solution which can be delivered by Place CPD and managed by the Public Transport team, while work progresses to develop a longer-term commercial strategy.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

• Procuring under PCR15
• Dynamic Markets
• Open Frameworks

How the proposed decision supports the Framing Kent's Future - Our Council Strategy 2022-2026

Levelling Up Kent - Inclusive transport across all divisions

New Models of Care - Bespoke, responsive transport for SEN and ASC

Sustainability – ensuring that the minimum number of vehicles are used in the transport of children, so reducing emissions.

Congestion – efficient planning to ensure that vehicle numbers limited, so removing congestion at and around major schools.

Communities – supporting them to grow, by ensuring access to specialist educational/adult social care resource.

How the proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022 -2026: Securing Kents Future - Budget Recovery Strategy.pdf

Service Continuity - Maintains stable procurement during legislative change (procurement act 2023)

Financial Resilience -  Avoids unnecessary cost and disruption associated with premature or unplanned procurement changes.

Strategic Planning - Allows time to develop future-proof commercial strategy

Best value consideration - Supports efficient and compliant procurement practices that deliver value for money.