CompeteFor

Network Rail has chosen four contractors to carry out enhancements, buildings and civils work in the south of England in deals worth up to £1.2bn – almost half the spending earmarked for the region over the next five years.

The works will be carried out on Network Rail’s Anglia, Kent, Sussex and Wessex routes over the next five years.

VolkerFitzpatrick (Anglia), Costain (Kent), Bam Nuttall (Sussex) and Osborne (Wessex) have agreed terms for the four frameworks, each of which will have an agreed minimum contract value.

The agreements begin on 1 April 2014 and will cover almost half of the region’s £2.5bn workbank in control period five, which runs from 2014 to 2019.

The frameworks are intended to encourage and facilitate suppliers working closely with Network Rail from initial development to delivery, and will incorporate jointly agreed objectives aligned with Network Rail’s outputs for CP5.

Collaboration formed 25 per cent of the evaluation criteria, which Network Rail said emphasised its commitment to work more closely and transparently with its supply chain.

This was also supported by the introduction of a form of agreement new to Network Rail, the NEC 3 (New Engineering Contract).

For the first time, safety issues made up 15 per cent of the evaluation criteria used by Network Rail to select its partners.

Network Rail IP Southern regional director Nick Elliott said: “This represents a significant change in the way we assess safety and underlines our commitment to delivering a fundamental improvement in workforce safety within the rail industry.

“When you combine this with BS11000 and early contractor involvement in design, it shows how we are changing the way we work to bring even closer collaboration between Network Rail and the supply chain.”

Osborne has been selected to deliver the Wessex Route with a contract value of approximately £250m over the next five years.

This involves designing and delivering all building and civils works with design partner Hyder and other supply chain specialists.

Osborne has worked with Network Rail (formerly Railtrack) since 1992.

Osborne executive director Dave Hooper said: “We look forward to developing a one-team, collaborative approach with Network Rail, its customer South West Trains and our supply chain partners.

“This will ensure we deliver infrastructure works more efficiently and create a legacy within the local communities that we work within over the course of this framework.”

VolkerFitzpatrick managing director of rail Chris Evans said the firm’s “collaborative relationship with the Network Rail team in the southern region” had been important in its “successful and safe delivery of our work over the last four years”.

Costain chief executive Andrew Wyllie said: “The appointment reflects the ongoing broadening of our service offering, in which we form long-term, strategic partnerships with our customers to deliver services across the full lifecycle of their assets.”

Bam Nuttall rail sector manager Alan Cox said: “Bam Nuttall is delighted to continue its long association with Network Rail in the South, and to develop a fully integrated collaborative team to deliver against all of the CP5 challenges in a way that supports both the local economy and the national challenge.

“The programme will make a fundamental change in the way infrastructure works are planned and delivered.”