HA set to revolutionise road work

Exclusive by Ross Pearman



The Highways Agency (HA) is further revolutionising its procurement methods by announcing two new maintenance contracts under its new Construction Management (CM) scheme.

A new Managing Agent Contractor (MAC) contract has been earmarked for Area 9, which includes the M5, M6 and parts of the M42 in the Midlands.

The MAC will take effect on work up to a value of £500,000. Thereafter the CM will kick in.

Area 10, which covers Manchester, will take the form of the more traditional managing agent and term maintenance contracts, although it has been slightly modified with CM coming into effect with any contracts with a value of more than £250,000.

The use of CMs follows the success of last year's resurfacing work on the A556 in Manchester, which knocked five months off a contract that had been delayed for years.

Since its inception in 1997, the CM method has acted as a litmus test for the HA in providing a community of companies to work together at an early stage of framework agreement contracts.

Tendering for the projects is expected in September with a shortlist due early next year. Work should start in September 2002.

"CM has been hugely successful in the past," said the HA's director of procurement Steve Rowsell. "For this reason we are looking to use these new areas as a further test of its successes."