NETWORK RAIL has begun a tender exercise to award three alliancing contracts covering plain line and switch and crossings work from 2019:
■ the North alliance will cover Scotland Route;
■ the Central alliance the London North Western and London North Eastern and East Midlands Routes; and
■ the South alliance the remaining five Routes (Anglia, South East, Wessex, Western and Wales).
Consortia are to comprise a minimum of one construction contractor and one designer. The pre-qualification period for the tender is expected to start in May.
NR says the contracts are valued at up to £5 billion over 10 years, and that the implementation of the alliances aligns with its Infrastructure Projects Control Period 6 strategy, which promotes entering into collaborative style arrangements with the supply chain to offer better value for money for devolved Route customers.
The alliances replace the current arrangements whereby plain line and S&C works are contracted and delivered separately. S&C work currently uses the alliancing contract form, which will be adopted for the combined contracts.
