Carillion among five chasing £350m Highways Agency MAC scheme

Five firms have made the shortlist for a highways maintenance deal potentially worth up to £350m.

The Area 12 managing agent/contractor (MAC) scheme has attracted Amey, Enterprise Mouchel, A1 Plus (Costain/Colas/Halcrow), InterRoute (Balfour Beatty/Mott MacDonald) and the incumbent on the job - Carillion/WSP.

Bids for the Highways Agency (HA) scheme are due back by the end of September, but a winner is not expected to be named until March 2009.

An insider said: "Submissions will be assessed in great depth by a dedicated team which will consider all aspects of the bids - track records, health and safety issues, finances, CAT ratings and so on - and that all takes a lot of time.

"The contract will run for a maximum of seven years, so no-one wants to get it wrong."

Another source said: "The present incumbent is usually favourite to get a second bite at the cherry, but with so much at stake all the bidders will be going flat out to win this one, as they do with all the MAC projects."

The contract will initially run for at least five years, with the potential to increase the term in stages to a maximum of seven years.

The Area 12 job takes in motorways and A-roads in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire and includes delivering improvement schemes up to £1m in value, work on structures, plus cyclic and winter maintenance.