Gloucestershire plans £60m highways framework ahead of 2026 launch

Gloucestershire County Council has initiated a preliminary market engagement process in anticipation of establishing a new highways construction framework valued at up to £60 million.

This four-year, multi-supplier framework will be divided into two lots and is intended to replace the council's previous approach of issuing individual open tenders.

Lot 1 will encompass highways projects with contract values between £500,000 and £10 million, while Lot 2 will focus on structures and geotechnical works ranging from £250,000 to £10 million. The framework will incorporate key performance indicators at both the overall framework level and during individual call-offs to ensure effective performance monitoring.

The council plans to utilise the NEC4 Framework Contract and the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract (2017 edition with 2020 amendments), selecting Main Option A for the contractual arrangement. Supplier engagement remains open until 5 August 2025, with a particular encouragement for SMEs to participate.

Stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the proposed commercial model, which includes quality-to-price weightings of 70:30 at the framework level and 30:70 for individual projects. Additionally, social value considerations will constitute 15 marks within the quality assessment criteria.

The framework is scheduled to operate from 4 January 2026 to 3 January 2030, with an estimated total value of £72 million inclusive of VAT. Procurement will proceed under the provisions of the Procurement Act 2023.

Interested parties are requested to submit their responses via the ProContract portal by 5pm on 5 August.