A pipeline notice for a major replacement of its Maintenance and Response (M&R) arrangements covering the Strategic Road Network (SRN), valued at £8bn, has been issued by National Highways.
The Maintenance and Response 2 (M&R2) programme, will cover the 7200km of the Strategic Roads Network, reports New Civil Engineer, with the successful contractors beinge expected to deliver a range of services designed to keep the network operating and resilient, including cyclic maintenance, reactive repairs, incident response, severe-weather interventions, operational roadside technology support and asset renewal works.
National Highways estimates the aggregate value of the M&R2 contracts at about £8bn excluding VAT (around £9.6bn including VAT).
The contracts are pencilled in to start on 1 March 2028 and run to 28 February 2036, with the potential for a one-year extension until February 2037. The authority says the figure is inclusive of contingency and that the final structure and division of work will be determined after further market engagement.
The current Maintenance and Response contracts are held by a variety of suppliers, split into regions. They include companies such as Kier, Colas, Amey and CH2M Costain Joint Venture.
At this stage National Highways is signalling that M&R2 may be divided into two tranches that could be further split into lots, but the precise geography and lotting strategy will not be finalised until after preliminary market engagement. Further detail will be published in a Preliminary Market Engagement Notice and the subsequent Tender Notice and procurement documents. The tender notice is currently estimated to be published on 22 February 2027.
The newly published pipeline notice highlights categories of work that prospective bidders should expect, covering roadworks and maintenance, tunnel and bridge operation services, electrical and signalling installation, roadside traffic-control equipment, and broader engineering, repair and maintenance services. Contract location is specified as the UK.
National Highways has indicated that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a particular target for participation, suggesting procurement teams will seek to structure opportunities in ways that could be accessible to smaller firms or encourage their involvement in supply chains.
If awarded, the M&R2 contracts will determine which companies are responsible for day-to-day upkeep and emergency response on the busiest parts of the strategic network for most of the next decade. The work will be of interest to major civil‑engineering and highways contractors, firms supplying traffic-management and roadside technology systems, and
specialist companies involved in tunnel and bridge operations.
Interested parties should watch for the preliminary market engagement notice and the formal tender documents, which will set out qualification, lotting and bid submission requirements. National Highways has not yet released details on the geographic split of lots, nor the evaluation criteria that will be applied.
(Pic: National Highways)
