(10 Oct 2013, 7:52 pm)mattdw92 wrote Or. I'd say they'd extend the deadline for the extension to give them time to order the buses and have them built and delivered around what time the manufacturers have, which I think might happen. It would leave 6 months between announcement and deadline, which is pretty tight to get green buses ordered and built.

Can't keep up with the edits here Matt - 'twas totally different last time I saw that post!

Surely the bid would be non-compliant again, if Stagecoach could not include confirmation from the relevant manufacturer(s) that they can meet the deadline of 31st March 2014?

See Section 4.2:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy...idance.pdf

Unless an exception has been made in the past, is it likely that it will happen this time?

Admittedly, Section 4.2 also states
"Bids will be non­-compliant if they are received after the advertised deadline of 17:00 on Tuesday 26th March 2013"

On top of the 37 already intended for Stagecoach (in accordance with the 2013/14 Stagecoach Handbook), an additional 3 have been ordered. We know that 17 were intended for Stagecoach in Sunderland whilst the other 20 were for Sheffield (?), but an additional 3 have been ordered.
So perhaps the guidelines can be bent to suit circumstances such as this - but it does seem a little unlikely to me. I admit that the manufacturers would be incredibly pressured to have these buses built for March 2014, but I'm just going on the official documentation made available publicly.