Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2020-11-16
Buyer: Highways England
Country: UK
Contract type: Works
Procedure: Competitive dialogue
CPV classification: 31600000 | 31625100 | 34928110 | 34928470 | 35110000: Fire-fighting and safety equipment
Estimated value: 2300000000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2020-12-23
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Highways England is the government company charged with operating, maintaining and improving England's strategic road networks. The Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) is a proposed new road connecting Kent, Thurrock and Essex through tunnels underneath the River Thames. The programme will relieve the congested Dartford Crossing and approach roads and improve their performance by providing sufficient north-south road capacity. On the south side of the River Thames, the new road will link the tunnel to the A2 and M2 in Kent. On the north side, it will link to the A13 and junction 29 of the M25 in the London Borough of Havering. There are Three Main Works contracts in this programme. This procurement is for the Tunnels and Approaches contract only, which will interface with the other two Main Works contracts.
The project is to design and construct two highway tunnels beneath the River Thames and will be procured under the competitive dialogue procedure. The contract governing the project will be based on the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) form of contract. The scope includes the portal structures, approach roads, the tunnel controls systems (MEICA) and a 5-year landscape maintenance and aftercare contract. At circa 16 metres in diameter, these tunnels will be some of the largest bored tunnels in the world. Each tunnel will feature a three-lane carriage way. Each tunnel will be circa 4 km in length, with approximately 1 km of approach roads from each portal connecting into the two neighbouring roads contracts.
Constructionline (https://constructionline.co.uk/) is the UK Government's national pre-qualification register for construction contractors and consultants. Applicants may demonstrate their suitability for a number of aspects in the selection process through providing their registration number for their valid and up to date Constructionline account. Contractors or Incorporated consortiums submitting an application should provide their Constructionline registration number. For unincorporated Consortiums submitting an application each member of the group should provide their individual Constructionline registration number. Constructionline members are requested to ensure their profile is valid and up to date for the purposes of this tendering process. Where applicants do not have a Constructionline account, or a valid and up to date Constructionline account, they will have the opportunity to demonstrate their suitability through other means, in accordance with the procurement documents.
The contracting authority will use an e-Sourcing portal in this procurement. General information on how to take part in this procurement is detailed below:
1) Register the applicant company on the e-Sourcing portal (this is only required once). Check as the Applicant or someone in your organisation may already be registered.
2) Visit https://highways.bravosolution.co.uk and either log on or click the link to register. If registering for the first time the Applicant will be requested to accept the terms and conditions before proceeding.
3) To express Interest in this PQQ (referred to as a ‘SQ’ by Highways England) Login to the portal — Click the 'PQQs/ITTs Open to All Suppliers' link. (This shows all PQQ or ITT’s open to any registered supplier on this portal). Click on this PQQ/ITT to access the content. Click the 'Express Interest' button at the top of the page. This will move the selected item into the applicants 'My PQQs/My ITT's page. (This is a secure area reserved for The Applicants projects only). The applicant can access all attachments to the selected item by clicking into the 'Buyer Attachments' area.
4) To respond to the tender - Click 'My Response' under 'PQQ/ITT Details’, The applicant can then select either 'Create Response' or 'Decline to Respond' (please enter a reason if declining). Note the deadline for completion, (the closing date) and follow the onscreen instructions to complete your submission.
5) There will be a mixture of online and offline actions for you to perform. Once your submission is fully uploaded and considered complete, submit your reply using the 'Submit Response' button at the top of the page. This stage must be done for the applicants submission to be considered.
6) The applicant may save and exit their submission at any time during preparation up till the closing date. If left for a set period of time the system will time out and any unsaved data will be lost.
7) If you require any further technical assistance in the operation of the e-Sourcing portal, please consult the online help or contact the e-Sourcing help desk (0800 069 8630) available from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m.
The end date stated at II.2.7) of this notice takes into account a five year landscape maintenance and aftercare contract from the handover.
The value of GBP 2 300 000 000 is an estimated value of the total cost including contingency. The estimated value for the contract will be provided as part of the ITPD.
It is mandatory for new Central Government contracts, which feature characteristics involving the handling of personal data and ICT systems designed to store or process data at the official level of the Government Security Classifications scheme (link below), to comply with Cyber Essentials. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-security-classifications. All potential tenderers for Central Government contracts, featuring the above characteristics, should be aware of the requirements for the appropriate level of certification. Further information: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cyber-essentials-scheme-overview
The selected tenderer will be required to accept the Highways England Fair Payment Charter as a condition of acceptance of their tender. Highways England intends to work with the winning bidder to explore opportunities for further efficiencies and improvements; discussions will take place during the mobilisation period. Highways England reserve the right to invite or not invite variant bids at their sole discretion. Further information will be set out in the Tender Documents.

Eligibility requirements: Constructionline (https://constructionline.co.uk/) is the UK Government's national pre-qualification register for construction contractors and consultants. Applicants may demonstrate their suitability for a number of aspects in the selection process through providing their registration number for their valid and up to date Constructionline account. Contractors or Incorporated consortiums submitting an application should provide their Constructionline registration number. For unincorporated Consortiums submitting an application each member of the group should provide their individual Constructionline registration number. Constructionline members are requested to ensure their profile is valid and up to date for the purposes of this tendering process. Where applicants do not have a Constructionline account, or a valid and up to date Constructionline account, they will have the opportunity to demonstrate their suitability through other means, in accordance with the procurement documents.

Award value: 2300000000