ECI route is 'enormously better'

The early contractor involvement (ECI) format for future road projects let by the Highways Agency is "enormously better" than earlier procurement routes, said chief executive John McDonough.
In the roads sector, Carillion is putting the focus on the ECI arena: the HA is thought to have 80 medium-sized projects in the pipeline for this new route.
Its largest schemes, those worth more than £1bn, will continue to take the PFI route to market, while framework agreements will still have a place for schemes at the smaller end, those valued at less than £20m to £30m.
"Carillion is only looking for an annual ECI workload of £100m, which means looking to do three or four schemes a year rather than 15 or a figure like that," said Roger Robinson, head of Carillion construction services.
"The concept is that you are engaged on the basis of the people you put forward. Then you have a two-year involvement in design and costing work. So your bid costs are all paid for."
Before the arrival of the ECI concept, Carillion would have racked up bid costs of £500,000 on a typical HA project.