After the government announced that Railtrack would carry out £3.2bn of work to sub–surface lines (ones that run above and below ground), it had been expected that the remainder of the network, split into two bundles of deep-tunnel lines, would be awarded to separate consortia.
But a notice posted in the European Union’s Official Journal last week stated that firms are free to bid for both contracts, and that one consortium might be selected to complete both contracts.
This is a relief to contractors faced with the dilemma of bidding for one or two sets of deep-tunnel works. They feared that if they won one, they would have wasted millions bidding for the other.
The 19 June notice, which consortia must reply to in order to prequalify for the remaining work, says: “Successful candidates for prequalification may be selected to tender for one or two contracts.
“If a candidate is successful for more than one contract, London Underground may elect to award one contract to cover the services to be provided by such Infracos [the infrastructure companies that the work will be let to].” A source at one bidder said: “This is something that needed answering and which hit me right between the eyes when I saw the notice. Economies of scale will mean it is OK to bid for both, and I believe that is what you will see most consortia doing.” But it is still unclear how many consortia will bid for each section of Tube. London Underground said a shortlist of six to eight consortia will be issued with invitations to tender, but it did not say how these would be split. There has been speculation that one shortlist might be as long as five, and a spokesperson for one bidder said he would be furious if this was the case.
He said: “We have heard these rumours, too, and that would make us very unhappy. We would have to reconsider our position because the odds would just be too long to make bidding worthwhile.” The Tube public-private partnership deal, which involves private consortia upgrading the Tube before handing it back in 25-30 years, during which LU will continue to run trains, has been enmeshed in controversy in the past week.
After Building revealed that the cost of the deal had risen £20m to £85m (18 June, pages 24-27), shadow transport spokesman John Redwood went on the attack, tabling parliamentary questions on the cost.
On Monday, London mayoral candidate Lord Archer vowed to block the deal if he was elected. On Tuesday, train drivers’ union leader Mick Rix attacked the Treasury over the decision to hand part of the network to Railtrack.
But bidders are pressing on. Metronet, a consortium including WS Atkins and Balfour Beatty, has said utilities Thames Water and Seeboard are to join its team.
