The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a new market study into the design, planning and delivery of road and railway infrastructure in the UK.
The study will look at whether it is possible to improve collaboration between the public and private sectors with a view to building more cost-effective infrastructure. It is ‘likely to result in recommendations to government'.
Sarah Cardell, chief executive at the CMA, said: ‘This review is a crucial step in identifying barriers holding back the sector - supporting the drive to get Britain building and ensuring every penny spent is delivering value for taxpayers.’
The CMA’s report will focus on:
- Ensuring public authorities access and examine the right information to make well-reasoned decisions when procuring roads and railways.
- Considering if public authorities can effectively work with the market to deliver projects on time, to a high quality and within anticipated budgets.
- Assessing if any procurement, planning or other regulatory processes create significant unnecessary barriers which limit companies’ ability and incentive to enter, expand, invest and innovate in this market.
- Examining any changes needed to the way this ecosystem operates to best incentivise and support civil engineering firms to deliver public roads and railways in a way that best delivers UK productivity and growth.
The National Infrastructure Commission estimates that investment in rail and road projects will need to increase by 30-50% over the next decade to deliver the complex infrastructure that is needed.
However, it also said that ‘the sector is not currently operating well’, adding that ‘making system-wide improvements could result in savings of 10% - 25% across infrastructure projects’.
Road and railway projects already account for billions of public spending every year - roughly 70-75% of government spending on economic infrastructure,
Alasdair Reisner, chief executive at the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, said: ‘We welcome the CMA’s focus on how more productive delivery of civil engineering can secure better outcomes and help the government meet its ambitions for growth. We look forward to working to support this study.’
The CMA is calling for input from businesses involved in designing infrastructure projects and those involved in the supply chain. You can find out more about contributing to the study here.
This will be the first market study the CMA has launched since the publication of the Government’s strategic steer for the organisation.
