New way of working brings opportunities for suppliers across the North West UK
Suppliers from across the North West region have had the opportunity to understand how they can get involved in future Highways England construction contracts worth £500m.
The industry day at the DW Stadium in Wigan was an opportunity for Highways England to engage with the supply chain and to update them on the company’s move to Asset Delivery contracts.
These contracts see Highways England directly managing both routine maintenance and the delivery of capital renewal and improvement schemes. This marks a change from previous way of working, bringing key functions in-house and taking greater control of the road network.
The day was an opportunity to find out about the upcoming tender exercise, which will be replacing the current Asset Support Contract in 2019.
Highways England Operations Director, Nick Harris, said: “The North West’s 260 miles of motorways and 50 miles of A roads form the backbone for the region and are vital in building a strong economy. New suppliers will help us continue to deliver record investment in roads, the highest in a generation, enabling the delivery of the first Road Investment Strategy and preparing for the future.
“We recognise the scale of change that the move to our Asset Delivery operating model has introduced to Highways England, by 2019 over 40% of our network will be working to the new operating model. This is an exciting time to get involved and it was excellent to see so many suppliers come and talk to us today.”
There are three main contracts going out to tender – Maintenance and Response, Design Services, and the Construction Works Framework.
- Maintenance and Response contract will deliver routine highway maintenance services, repairs to defects, emergency incident response and severe weather services on the Highways England road network.
- Design Services include preparing technical designs and undertaking supporting work for capital projects from an initial scheme feasibility phase through to the as-built phase.
- The Construction Works Framework covers a range of activities that include renewal work to roads and bridges, and improvement schemes on the Highways England road network.
The contracts are for the maintenance and operation of the strategic road network covering Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside and the southern end of Lancashire.
