Knowsley Council is set to award separate highways maintenance and design contracts to Tarmac and AECOM respectively, worth up to £100m combined over a potential 10 years.

The council currently has a highway maintenance and improvements contract with Tarmac, which began in February 2016 and is due to expire at the end of January 2025.

In 2022 it appointed Proving Services Limited to investigate potential options for the new contract and was presented with two contract models: an integrated designer and contractor model and a separate designer and contractor model.

A competitive procurement process between Autumn 2022 and Spring 2024 sought bids on three lots, one involving the integrated model and the other two covering the individual elements.

Following an evaluation of submissions, officers recommended that the council's cabinet award separate contacts, ‘as these Lots are considered to have given rise to the most economically advantageous tender', and ‘a single supplier could become dominant and there would be little or no challenge to the designs other than client actions'.

The council approved the Tarmac maintenance deal and a contract for AECOM to undertake ‘the associated designs, project management and site supervision of any highway maintenance and improvement schemes'.

The combined value of the contracts is anticipated to be approximately £10m a year. They will run from 1 February 2025 until 31 January 2032, with an option to extend for a further three years.

Dale Milburn, the council's executive director for regeneration and economic development, said: ‘The council has undertaken a robust procurement process to ensure that value for money, whilst providing high quality services, is provided.

‘This has resulted in some cost savings to the contract value, and these savings will be ploughed into further highways improvements.'