£400m Norfolk shortlist

At least four groups have hit the road for one of this year's biggest partnering deals, worth up to 400m. The prize being rolled out by Norfolk County Council centres on highways improvements and maintenance works and is known as the Planning and Transportation Strategic Partnership.

The deal has spawned an unusual partnership between two East Anglian firms that normally operate as rivals - May Gurney and Jackson.

Also making it onto the shortlist is Carillion and sources say that the contractor is "casting around for a partner" to help it undertake the massive project.

Jarvis and Nuttall have also made the final cut. But there could be other contractors in the mix. Uncertainty hangs over the involvement of Alfred McAlpine, with sources only saying the firm is "reviewing its position" regarding the deal.

And insiders say that Raynesway could also figure in the permutations.

But a well-placed source claimed that other likely candidates in the maintenance sector were put off from sending in prequalification pitches "because Norfolk is May Gurney and Jackson territory and it might be extremely difficult to dislodge these companies from their stronghold".

He continued: "Tendering for this job requires a lot of effort and money and it could all be wasted. There are probably better opportunities elsewhere."

Work in the first year of the contract will be worth 40m, with the council planning to run the partnership for 10 years.

As well as the civils work - highways maintenance and improvements, plus bridge strengthening - the scope of the scheme includes asset and network management, as well as waste management.

Norfolk Council is also rolling out another framework deal. This second scheme centres on capital building programme works and is worth up to 50m in the first year. The council is understood to be on the brink of finalising a list of 16 contractors to carry out works ranging from 100,000 to 1m-plus.