A full list of consortia that have expressed interest in the scheme will be revealed for the first time at a conference for prequalifiers at the British Library.
Bidders have until Tuesday 27 July to submit an application to prequalify, and unless there is a surprise late entry no more are expected.
The public-private partnership plans for the Tube involve upgrading three sets of lines in a deal that will see bidders paid over 25-30 years. Railtrack has already been asked to negotiate for work on one set of sub–surface lines.
The bidders in detail
The list of eight consortia interested in the remaining deep tunnel lines is understood to be:
- Capital Lines: Capital Lines London, SGE
- Bank of Tokyo, Mitsubishi, Aon
- Amey, Jarvis, Bechtel, Hyder, Halcrow
- Tuberail: Brown & Root, Alstom, Amec, Tarmac
- Metronet: WS Atkins, Balfour Beatty, Adtranz, Seeboard, Thames Water
- New Metro Group: Siemens, Taylor Woodrow, Gibb, Mott MacDonald
- LINC: Mowlem, Fluor Daniel, Alcatel, Bombadier
- Kvaerner
Other firms that have expressed an interest in working for consortia at a later date have also been invited to the conference.
These are Alfred McAlpine, architect Terry Farrell & Partners, engineers Westinghouse and Pell Frischmann and bank Greenwich NatWest.
One surprise absentee is French contractor Bouygues, which has decided against involvement in the project for now.
A spokesman for the company said: “We are interested in the project, but the extreme-left and extreme-right views of the prospective mayoral candidates who will take over the Tube mean that there is too much uncertainty for us over the deal at the moment.
“It is a view shared by a lot of contractors we have spoken to. I cannot believe LU has come up with the final solution. Diving in now might not be the best option.” The objective of the prequalification conference is for bidders to meet LU management, who will eventually be transferred to the successful consortium.
Question mark over Bechtel
But there is a question mark over the precise role of one bidder, US company Bechtel, which has been rumoured to be about to join Railtrack in working on the sub–surface lines.
There is speculation in Whitehall that Railtrack is struggling with the heavy engineering elements of the work it will need to undertake, particularly to the northern part of the Circle Line.
Bechtel is already providing Railtrack with project management advice on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and is considered well-suited to handling major works, including tunnelling, at Baker Street and Paddington.
However, it is possible that this would stop the company from bidding with Jarvis, Amey, Hyder and Halcrow for the deep tunnel lines. This grouping had been considered one of the most powerful of the eight consortia.
Treasury minister Alan Milburn was yesterday due to launch the government’s final response to the second Bates review of the private finance initiative.
Milburn was expected to announce a version of a new PFI agency that will advise on, and may take equity stakes in, PFI projects.
Frantic last-minute lobbying by the CBI is said to have deterred Labour from creating a more powerful PFI investment body; the new agency is expected to concentrate on its advisory role.
This would be welcomed by banks and some contractors, which were fiercely opposed to the investment plan because they thought that it would mean too much public sector interference in projects, destabilising a market that has only recently started to take off.
Full consultation on the new proposals is also expected. Although Milburn has recently canvassed industry opinion in private meetings, there had been criticism that the investment bank was to have been foisted on the private sector without any real consultation.
The future of Treasury PFI taskforce chief executive Adrian Montague, whose contract is about to run out, and who was tipped to lead the government Investment Bank, may also be made clear.
