Civil engineering consultancy services

Tender description

The A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down serves the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site currently forming a bottleneck for users of the route resulting in an adverse impact on the cultural heritage landscape, the surrounding natural environment and the community of Winterbourne Stoke. There is severe congestion, particularly during the summer months, in addition to poor safety performance. The proposed scheme forms part of a package of proposals for the A303/A30/A358 corridor to improve the vital connection between the South West, London and the South East, and includes the upgrade of remaining single carriageway sections on the route to dual carriageway. As part of the proposals, this scheme is stated as a priority project in the National Infrastructure Plan 2014, and is listed within the top 40 priority infrastructure projects. The Road Investment Strategy (2015-2020) states that construction will start within this roads period (i.e. by the end of March 2020), subject to necessary approvals and the scheme continuing to demonstrate value for public money. The principal objectives of the scheme, as set out in the Client Scheme Requirements are: —Cultural heritage: to contribute to the conservation and enhancement of the World Heritage Site by improving access both within and to the site. —Environment and community: to contribute to the enhancement of the historic landscape within the World Heritage Site (WHS), to improve biodiversity along the route and to provide a positive legacy to communities adjoining the road. —Economic growth: in combination with other schemes on the route, to enable growth in jobs and housing by providing a free flowing and reliable connection between the East and the South West peninsula. —Transport: to create a high quality route that resolves current and predicted traffic problems and contributes towards the creation of an express-way between London and the south west. The scheme is currently in the options phase, with an options consultation planned for Spring 2017 and with a preferred route announcement planned to be made in Summer 2017. It is anticipated that we will require design and construction support from Spring/ Summer 2017, with a Development Consent Order application planned to be made in Summer 2018. Highways England is seeking a Technical Partner to provide leading expertise in the key disciplines outlined below in order to ensure the successful delivery of this high profile project within its investment parameters. The Technical Partner will need to demonstrate appropriate behaviours to work collaboratively with the Highways England team and extensive experience in the development and delivery of large complex transport infrastructure schemes in the current UK planning environment. This is a long term appointment likely to be in excess of 8 years, and required to support an accelerated delivery schedule. The successful Technical Partner will be required to work in collaboration with multiple partners to provide: — Strong technical leadership; — World class technical expertise in complex infrastructure projects including, but not limited to, tier one project governance and process, highway design, tunnels and projects of significant cultural importance and sensitivity and in all disciplines needed for the design, consent and success of the Project; — Excellent people, teams, proactive management and behaviour, and alignment to the success of the project; — Excellence in stakeholder engagement and the management of important relationships; — Collaborative attitude and behaviour; and — The capacity to fully support the Employer in successful delivery of the Project. The Contract is to be let under the Terms of the NEC3 Professional Services Contract (Option G) as adopted/modified by Highways England. The Contract will be advertised via OJEU (Open Procedure). Services will be placed via Task Orders and may be paid for as; — Lump Sum — on satisfactory completion of an activity; — Target Price; or — Time charge. Highways England will select the appropriate payment approach for each specific Task Order.