Transport Scotland has announced the shortlisted companies being invited to bid for three large A9 design contracts.Eight design consultancies or joint ventures have made the shortlist for these A9 dualling contracts. They are: AECOM/Mott MacDonald; Arup; Atkins/Mouchel; Capita; C2MHill/Fairhurst; Jacobs; URS; WSP/Ramboll/Fehily Timoney.Invitations to tender for the contracts, each worth in the region of £40-60 million, will be issued next month.Transport Minister Keith Brown said: "The strength and expertise of these bidders, including some of the UK's biggest design consultancies, is testament to the recognition that this ambitious project has in the engineering consultancy market."These three large contracts offer the prospect of steady work for the next 12 years for the three successful bidders. They will also offer many opportunities for small and medium enterprises through sub-consultancy work."We fully recognise the A9 dualling project is vital for safety and the further economic development of the communities served by the road. The fact that we expect over half of the dualling programme to be completed by 2022 shows our commitment to deliver improvements for users of the route as soon as possible.”The national transport agency has also announced that the contract notice for important ground investigation work on the challenging Birnam to Tay Crossing section of the route will be published early next month.