West Yorkshire Mass Transit Preliminary Market Engagement

This is a notice seeking early engagement from interested suppliers to help West Yorkshire Combined Authority to inform the programme development as part of the business case process for the Mass Transit (MT) programme in West Yorkshire. The Mass Transit Programme: The Mass Transit Programme is a large-scale public transport system in a predominantly urban area. Typically, Mass Transit would use one or more of modern high-capacity buses, trams or tram-train type vehicles. West Yorkshire Mass Transit will be centred around five of the region’s largest towns and cities, Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Halifax. As Mass Transit in West Yorkshire is developed, the most appropriate proposed routes as well as the technologies will be identified. Mass Transit will be delivered in a series of phases starting with Leeds and Bradford for phase one as these cities are West Yorkshire’s most concentrated centres of population, business, leisure, and retail activity. When complete, the network will serve towns and cities across the wider region. To find out more about the West Yorkshire Mass Transit System go to: https://www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/improving-transport/mass-transit/ The Combined Authority is organising an initial preliminary market engagement (“PME”) event, held virtually on the 15th of July 2025 to introduce the Mass Transit programme to the potential supply chain and offer interested suppliers an opportunity to contribute to the Combined Authority’s strategy development, particularly in regard to the commercial and procurement strategy. Currently, West Yorkshire Combined Authority is in the process of developing the Strategic Outline Case (SOC), a crucial early-stage document that outlines the strategic context and objectives of Phase One of the Mass Transit programme. The SOC serves as a foundation for informed decision-making, and helps to assess the feasibility and value for money of a project, ensuring it meets the strategic objectives and funding criteria set by the DfT and HMT. At this stage, the Combined Authority is focusing on high-level decisions, such as defining the scope of the project, and assessing initial feasibility. These decisions will guide the subsequent stages of programme development and future procurement processes, ensuring that the Combined Authorities strategies are aligned with its overall goals and objectives. In this initial PME event, the Combined Authority seeks to engage with suppliers with proven experience in early-stage programme involvement and participation in major infrastructure projects. This approach will enable the Combined Authority to gather the most comprehensive and strategic insights, shaping the design of the Mass Transit programme. The Combined Authority intends to organise other PME events at a later stage in the procurement process. Suppliers who believe they are more suited to engage with the programme at a later stage will have the opportunity to do so, and do not need to register interest now or respond to this notice. There will be future opportunities to engage with the Combined Authority in relation to the Mass Transit programme and additional PME notices will be published to inform suppliers of these opportunities. Compliance with Procurement Act 2023: This notice is being published to advertise a PME event with a planned date of 15 July 2025 where more information about the requirements will be shared. This PME event is the first of a series of PME events that will support the development of the Mass Transit programme strategy in line with its strategic objectives. The Combined Authority is approaching the market under section 16 (1) of the Procurement Act 2023. In line with section 16 (1) of the Procurement Act 2023 which lists the permitted purposes of preliminary market engagement, this notice fulfils the requirement for a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) notice to be issued under the Procurement Act 2023. It is important to note that while we will be creating these specialised workstreams in due course, this does not preclude any suppliers from participating in the current PME event. We encourage all suppliers to submit responses to the questionnaire with their insights and knowledge. Note: This total estimated value is the total estimated value of this phase of the Mass Transit programme, and is not indicative any one procurement or individual opportunity. The contract duration included in this notice is indicative and is subject to change as the programme develops. Although this stage of the PME remains open to all suppliers, the Combined Authority is of the view that this stage of the PME would be less suitable for Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) or Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE). As noted in this notice, West Yorkshire Combined Authority intends to maintain a dialogue with the market before launching the procurement process and it might be that SME and VCSE would consider it more appropriate to participate at a later stage of the PME process.