Crossrail has delayed announcing its programme partner for the £15.9bn project from mid-February until next month

News of the winner will now be released with the project delivery partner, it said.

Bidders have suggested that this may have been to prevent accusations of bias in the choice of the second awardee, since two of the companies are on both shortlists. But Crossrail said there was “nothing sinister” in the decision.

Bechtel is the favourite for the £100m programme partner role, bidding against Legacy 3

Bechtel remains the favourite for the £100m programme partner role, bidding against Legacy 3, a joint venture between Parsons Brinckerhoff, Balfour Beatty Management and Davis Langdon; and Transcend, comprising AECOM, CH2M Hill and Nichols Group.

Legacy 3 and Bechtel, in a joint venture with Halcrow and Systra, are also in the running for the project delivery role. They are up against a team of Laing O’Rourke and Atkins, and Capita Symonds and NNN.