Highways Agency

• M25 Jct 16 to 23 Widening

Background

Widening of the M25 is one of the recommendations of the Orbit Multi Modal Study which reported in November 2002.  The study was tasked with addressing the problems of the M25 motorway and the orbital transport corridor around London.  The study involved widespread public consultation and looked at the current problems and potential solutions to them.

The report recommended that most of the dual 3 lane sections of the M25 should generally be widened to dual 4 lanes.

The other sections to be widened are:

• M25 Jct 5 to 7 (M26 - M23/Redhill) - 17 km
• M25 Jct 27 to 30 (M11 - Dartford) - 23 km
• M25 Jct 23 to 27 (A1 (M) - M11) - 27 km
• M25 Jct 1b to 3 (Dartford – M20) – 5 km

Project Procurement

We are procuring the widening through a Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) contract.  The basis was given in the Contract Notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union in November 2005 (Public Works Contract (Negotiated Procedure) Notice, reference 2005/S 214-211161).

The DBFO Contract will be awarded under the negotiated procedure applicable to Public Works Contracts under the Public Works Contract Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/2680) (the Regulations) that implement the Public Works Contracts Directive (93/37/EC).

The Contract Notice invited requests from interested parties to prequalify.  In the prequalification process, completed in March 2006, we identified 5 consortia who we considered have the capability and experience necessary for this work.

From the outline proposals submitted by the five consortia, we invited three to submit full tenders in February 2007.  Tenders are due to be returned in late October 2007. Subject to the availability of funds and completion of statutory processes we would award the contract in late 2008.

The consortia invited to submit tenders are:

• Amey, Laing O'Rourke and Ferrovial Agroman;
• Connect Plus (Balfour Beatty Capital Projects Ltd, Skanska Infrastructure Development AB, Atkins Ltd and Egis Projects SA);
• Flow (Vinci Concessions SA, Laing Roads Ltd, Carillion Construction Ltd and Costain Engineering & Construction Ltd);

We would use this contract to deliver 4 of the 5 sections to be widened. The widening of the section of M25 between junctions 1b and 3 is being delivered through the contract being used for the A2/A282 Dartford Improvement.

We would use the DBFO contract also to provide the day to day management and maintenance work of motorways and trunk roads in Highways Agency Area 5 over a 30 year period.  This area comprises the M25, the Dartford Crossing and sections of radial routes (like the M1, M3, M4 and M11) which cross the M25.