National Highways has issued an updated engagement notice for its upcoming Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme with a lower estimated contract value and shorter expected contract duration.
The initial market engagement notice for the scheme, which was set up in collaboration with the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV), was published at the start of August and estimated the contract to be worth £228m and to last for a year.
However, a secondary preliminary market engagement notice published earlier this week now puts the contract value at £190m and the contract duration at 11 months.
When approached by Highways as to why the value was reduced, National Highways said: 'The original notice was amended to the correct figure of £190m.'
It added that 'it's important to note these are pre-market engagement exercises and not a formal tender opportunity'.
Once awarded, the works are expected to strengthen electricity network infrastructure to ‘selected MSAs [motorway service areas]' to support the development of a strong open-access EV charging network across the motorway network that can be used with any EV vehicle regardless of manufacturer.
While phase 1 pre-market engagement focused on ‘understanding supplier capability', phase 2 is looking for supplier feedback on potential delivery, packaging, commercial, evaluation and route to market options for the scheme.
Suppliers that wish to provide feedback to National Highways on this contract can do so here before 30 October.
National Highways currently plans to publish the tender notice for the contract by 1 February 2027.
Full details of the notice and how to reply can be found here.
