The bid was submitted one day before the deadline

The company submitted the bid the day before deadline and is the only operator left in contention.

The tendering process was ordered by the previous Scottish Executive which claimed it had no choice but to put the contract out to tender under EU law.

CalMac management has described the bid as the culmination of six years' hard work.

The company said it has involved a complete restructuring of the executive-owned company.

The process is estimated to have cost taxpayers �15m and is more than half the annual subsidy for CalMac from the executive.

The Scottish National Party, which is now the majority party at Holyrood, opposed the tendering process in the last parliament.