Five vie for HA job

by Brian Warner



Five contractors are expecting to pick up tender documents within the next week for the fifth contract to come up for grabs in this year's programme of Highways Agency (HA)improvement schemes.

The line-up for the £24m Wadesmill bypass in Hertfordshire sees two firms that often bid in tandem for road schemes now as rivals pitching against each other - Amec versus Alfred McAlpine.

Two firms that have their headquarters in the county have also made it onto the shortlist - Fitzpatrick and Laing.

The list for the design and construct bypass, which has come out to tender two months later than expected, is completed by East Anglian outfit Jackson.

Over the last few years, the HA has unusually invited only four firms to pitch for design and construct projects because of the expense incurred by contractors in working up bids for such schemes.

But the HA is now pushing the shortlist up to five. An HA spokeswoman said: "We are now inviting five for design and construct in line with EU procurement regulations which have been recently clarified."

The winner of the Wadesmill contest is likely to emerge in December 2001, after which there will be a three-month design period.

Work on site is expected to start in spring 2002, with the completion deadline set for 130 weeks. The job includes a defects correction period of five years.

The job includes 7.3km of dual carriageway, a river crossing and eight bridges.

Two of the three remaining schemes to come out for tender in the HA's programme are expected to emerge in August when shortlists will be compiled for the £15m Rothwell-Desborough bypass and the £15m Rushden-Higham Ferrers bypass, both on the A6.

No date has yet been set for the final scheme to come up for grabs - the A21 Lamberhurst bypass in Kent.