Atkins tipped to win £250m Area 4 MAC

Industry insiders are putting their money on Atkins to topple the incumbent from its perch for a highways maintenance deal in the South East, worth at least £250m.

The prize is the Highways Agency's Area 4 Managing Agent/Contractor (MAC) project.

One source claimed: "There's still some way to go before the contract is firmed up, but at this stage of the game the word is that Atkins has undercut its rivals by a big margin."

He said: "Atkins won the Area 6 MAC late in 2007 with a price considerably below that of its rivals, and the word is that the firm has done it again on Area 4."

The present incumbent on Area 4 is InterRoute (Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Services/Mott MacDonald), which won the contract in 2003 under the banner of Raynesway/Mott MacDonald.

Atkins was also among the challengers for that deal, but at that time pitched in tandem with Carillion.

The new Area 4 contract was also priced by Skanska/Scott Wilson Ringway/Jacobs and Carillion/WSP.

The winner of the latest Area 4 contest is expected to mobilise in April, with a start on site due in October 2009.

An insider said: "You would normally expect the present incumbent to be odds-on to win again because it has the inside steer. But these days pricing has become ultra-competitive and anything can happen."

The new deal is worth up to £50m-a-year and is expected to run initially for five years, but there is the likelihood of extensions to that contract period.

Area 4 includes roads in Kent, West and East Sussex, plus Surrey.