Leeds City urged to reduce tender list

The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) has written to Leeds City Council  to complain about the number of firms asked to price the council’s East Leeds Link Road deal.

Contract Journal reported recently (CJ 14 May) that at least seven firms are working up bids for the £20m scheme and there could be as many as nine, as the council originally proposed.

CECA’s worries centre on the substantial amount of time and money that so many contractors will have to spend on tendering the project.

In a letter to the council, CECA warned that while “it is in a client’s interest that a range of contractors should be invited to tender in sufficient numbers to ensure genuine competition, consideration also needs to be given to both the considerable time and resources that the bidding process requires from those participating”.

CECA states that the number of firms asked to price public sector deals should normally be no more than six.

The letter ends with CECA urging Leeds to “reconsider the number of tenders” and offering to discuss the issue with the council.

One contractor, normally expected to feature on a deal such as the Link Road, told CJ: “We saw in the OJEU that Leeds planned to ask nine firms to bid and thought better of it – all that time, effort and expense for such a contract just isn’t worth it.”

Birse, Balfour Beatty, Costain, Norwest Holst, Skanska, Carillion and Alfred McAlpine have so far been identified as bidders for the scheme.

The council was unavailable for comment.