Manchester picks eight to share £80m contract

Manchester City Council has lined up eight contractors to share in an £80m partnering framework deal.

From an original field of 40 contestants, the council has chosen a mix of national players and regional firms.

Cruden Property Services, Mitie and Morrison are joined by Bramall Construction, Harry Fairclough Construction, the Lord Group, F Parkinson and Totty Building Services.

Morrison has taken over the council's former direct works organisation under TUPE arrangements and will tackle only small-value projects.

The deal will run for four years and is worth £20m a year.

The contracts will be on a performance-related basis, which means that the better a firm tackles its work, the more contracts it will get. Initially, individual packages of work will be worth up to £500,000.

[Contract Journal, 6 September 2006, p 13]