Network Rail has launched a GBP 5.3 billion tender for southern works

Network Rail is seeking bidders for a GBP 5.3 billion construction project in the south of England. The infrastructure operator issued an official notice inviting people to participate in a Southern Integrated Delivery framework procurement process.

Contractors will be able to bid for spots on both lots of the framework, but will only be able to secure spots on one of them.

GBP 4.3 billion buildings and civils lot will cover a slew of construction and engineering jobs along the Kent, Sussex, and Wessex routes over the next decade.

Meanwhile, as part of a £1 billion transaction, Network Rail is looking for electrification and plant partners.

Successful bidders will sign a development-phase contract that will cover the five-year Control Period 7 from December 2022 to April 2024, when the main framework will begin.

Unless either party invokes a break clause, the same contractors will be assigned to deals covering Control Period 8.

The anticipated value of the transaction was £9.6 billion in a prior information notice published last month, which is now described as the greatest likely consequence if investment is scaled up after 2029.

Network Rail, which will merge with Great British Railways in 2023, restated its goal of achieving "a step change in the way renewals are delivered" by forming a "fully integrated team" based on the industry-led Project 13 model, which aims to increase collaboration and productivity.

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