FGW Direct Award franchise marks end of era

摘要

As reported in our news pages last month, the Department for Transport announced on 3 October that it had signed a new Direct Award franchise agreement with First Great Western. Note that these Direct Awards, also known as Single Tender Awards (STA), while they extend the period during which the incumbent will be running the franchise, are not an 'extension' to an existing franchise, which is something altogether different.