Big five angered as CTRL job is canned

Union Railways has pulled the plug on a key Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) deal, leaving contractors fuming and bewildered.

The £60m Stratford and Ebbsfleet stations contracts were due to be let this month, but the client has told the five contractors that priced both deals it will not award the scheme to any of them.

Industry big guns Mowlem, Skanska, Costain, Laing and Kier all tendered for Contract 232 (Stratford station) and Contract 340 (Ebbsfleet station).

A well-placed source said: "Union Railways has told the contractors not to proceed and to destroy all documents."

He said: "There was no indication this would happen - it is an absolute bombshell. Contractors have spent at least £1.4m in working up bids. This is a criminal waste of money."

Another insider said: "All the bids came in over budget, and it seemed contractors would be asked to rebid. But now it looks as if Union Railways thinks costs can be kept down if it project manages the scheme itself."

A CTRL spokesman told CJ: "It has been decided that this contract will be broken down into a number of smaller contracts than had been previously intended.

"After careful consideration of the tenders returned, Union Railways has concluded that the market could not meet our expectations and, therefore, the work will be re-tendered in smaller packages."

Another insider said: "Union Railways is basically saying its procurement methods are fundamentally flawed and contractors are having to pay the price. It looks as though the client is ditching its previous creed of partnering and target costs and will now go to subbies for fixed price lump sums."

He continued: "Maybe the client will do the decent thing and reimburse contractors for wasting their time. But I fear that may be a forlorn hope."

The CTRL spokesman said that retendering the deal would not delay the station projects, which are due to start on site in the autumn.