Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 September 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18378 by Michael Matheson on 23 August 2018, what consideration it has made of the level of cost provisioning required for such a bid.
Competitive tendering for a rail franchise is a requirement under UK legislation. Available evidence suggests that this activity could be estimated to cost in the region of £10 million. The cost of any bid will depend on the nature of the bidding organisation and the approach that a bidder takes to developing a proposal that meets and/or exceeds the requirements of the Invitation to Tender. This estimate is therefore based on the most likely costs, using the market information available, to inform our consideration of the amount of funding the public sector bidder is likely to require.