Amey and Tay Valley fight for Norfolk lighting work

Norfolk County Council has turned the spotlight on two outfits in the final run-in for its £42m PFI streelighting deal.

Sources say that Amey and the Tay Valley Lighting group will fight it out in the best and final offer stage of the contest.

The Tay Valley consortium is made up of Scottish and Southern Energy, Southern Electric Contracting and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The news means the end of the road for two other contestants originally shortlisted to work up bids for the scheme.

It is understood that the council has now rejected bids from Vinci/Ringway and Skanska/McNicholas plc.

Norfolk’s preferred bidder is expected to emerge this spring.

The job involves upgrading and replacing 50,000 lighting columns and work in earnest on the project is expected to kick off this summer.

The deal will total £100m over the 25 years of the concession period.

One insider on the project said: "Norfolk council got a very healthy response from interested contractors when the job was first posted in the OJEU and the council gave serious consideration to six groups, before whittling down to the final four shortlisted firms."