CECA slams d&b bidders decision

Exclusive by Carol Millett



The Highways Agency's (HA) and the Scottish Executive's decision to pre-empt a European Commission directive to increase the number of bidders on their design and build (d&b) contracts from four to five goes against the Latham Report.

That is the opinion of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA).

A recent European Court of Justice ruling calls for no less than five bidders on any restricted procedure contract. The Commission is now planning to include the ruling in the European procurement directive early next year.

CECA director Rosemary Beales told CJ bid costs for design and build road contracts will soar if the ruling becomes law. "This ruling contradicts the UK's current good practice guidelines on tendering. Five bidders are just too many on d&b contracts."

The HA has already called for five bidders on the A5 Nescliffe bypass and the A10 Wadesmill bypass. The Scottish Executive has also called for five bidders for a d&b contract on the A1 near Edinburgh. Beales said: "Some [clients] believe the ruling is already law, but it isn't and we are hoping to prevent it being applied to design and construct contracts before the procurement directive is enacted next year."

Steve Rowsell, procurement director at the HA, confirmed that it is following the ruling. He said: "With the high cost of tendering for d&b, it is not satisfactory to use a minimum of five bidders, but that is the ruling and that is what we are following for the time being. However, we are moving away from traditional d&b to early d&b contracts where there is less need for substantial design work during the tender period, so it might be appropriate to have five bidders on these sorts of contracts anyway."

But Beales queried Rowsell's logic. "I can't see how five bidders on any d&b contract is wise. The number recommended by the Latham Report is four."