M25 widening: losing bidders grumble over HA's decision

Losing bidders on the £4.5bn M25 DBFO believe the Highways Agency's choice of the Connect Plus consortium - which includes Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Atkins and Egis Projects - will lead to intense scrutiny of the project.

Both Balfour and Atkins have been involved in the beleaguered Metronet contracts. Balfour is also one of 112 construction companies accused by the Office of Fair Trading of being involved in bid-rigging activities.

Sources told CJ that the agency will now come under "more pressure than ever" to successfully deliver the 30-year scheme which involves the ongoing maintenance and widening of 102km of motorway.

An agency spokesman said: "There are significant differences between the M25 DBFO contract and the Metronet contracts. The condition and knowledge of the assets on the M25 network are a 'known quantity' - whereas on Metronet there was uncertainty of asset state and scope of the work. The M25 DBFO contract is also fixed price.

"We have looked carefully at the lessons that came out of the Metronet failure and have received further assurances from Connect Plus that give us confidence that the risk of a similar failure would be very low."