Transport for London (TfL) has tendered a new £35.9m tunnels control and management system contract.
TfL said it is aiming to ‘replace and improve' its current tunnels control and management system (TCMS) to ‘take advantage of advancements in technology' and is looking for a single supplier to provide ‘full end-to-end service'.
The new deal is expected to include the design, building, testing and implementation of the system, as well as support during the transition from the old TCMS and ongoing support and maintenance for the duration of the contract.
Some of the key features required include:
- The new system will ensure safety and mitigate disruption in road tunnels.
- It must be capable of incident management, highlighting incidents, alarms, and notifications to the operator's attention, providing for both automatic and manual incident management, and user activity logging for an audit trail.
- It will enable effective communications with the attending emergency services and other incident responders, as well as communicating internally, allowing operators to better collaborate on traffic network management and improve traffic management performance.
- It will collect safety information from London's Tunnels, including Fire Systems, CCTV, SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and other safety control systems.
- It will be responsible for various activities which are Network Information Systems (NIS) reportable.
The contract is planned to run for an initial 13-year term from 5 November 2027 to 4 November 2040, with a maximum extension option of a further 10 years – broken down in increments. This would bring the total potential run time to 23 years and the contract end date to 4 November 2050.
Those wishing to submit a tender must do so by 12 May 2026, with the successful supplier expected to be announced by 21 October 2027.
More information on the contract and how to apply can be found here.
