Find a TenderAwarded
Published 21 Oct 2024, 16:36 BST

Official UK procurement notice

SC24029 Highway Term Maintenance Contract 2026

Official notice

Authority: Kent County Council (Local council)·Consortium: 2 public authorities

ServicesCompetitive procedure with negotiation
Published estimate£2,000,000,000exc. VAT
Submissions closed 25 Nov 2024awarded 19 Nov 2025
Awarded to Ringway Infrastructure Services Limited

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Following a competitive procedure with negotiation under Regulation 29 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the "Procurement"), Kent County Council (the "Council") has appointed a service provider (the "Service Provider") to deliver a highways term maintenance contract (the "Contract"). The Council's highway term maintenance services are currently delivered through the Council's existing contract (the "Current HTMC"), which expires on 30 April 2026. The Council has entered into the Contract as of 19 November 2025 to allow sufficient time for implementation and to ensure service continuity from the expiry of the Current HTMC. The initial term of the Contract is 14 years (168 months) (plus a six (6) month mobilisation period during which Task Orders will be issued under the Contract for the initial term). There will be an option to extend the Contract by up to a maximum aggregate of seven (7) years (84 months).

At the Final Tender Stage, the Council identified the most economically advantageous tender using the Price per Quality Point evaluation method. Please also see Section VI for additional information.

This Procurement also includes the potential for the local authorities listed in Section II.2.11 below to have access to in order to deliver specific schemes/projects with the Service Provider.

CPV: Control, safety, signalling and light equipment · Gully cleaning and emptying services · Highway maintenance work · Repair, maintenance and associated services related to roads and other equipment · Road equipment · Traffic-monitoring equipment · Winter-maintenance materials · Winter-maintenance vehicles

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1The Procurement was undertaken as a competitive procedure with negotiation under…AwardedPublished value£2,000,000,000

The Procurement was undertaken as a competitive procedure with negotiation under Regulation 29 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

Following, three separate rounds of market engagement in January, June, and August 2024 the Procurement launched on 21 October 2024.

The Council encouraged small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in the Procurement, either as Candidates, consortium members, supply-chain partners or sub-contractors.

The Selection Questionnaire (the "SQ") Stage of the Procurement closed on 25 November 2024. An Invitation to Submit Initial Tender (the "ISIT") was released in December 2024 to the Candidates shortlisted at the SQ Stage (subsequently referred to as "Tenderers"). Only quality was evaluated during the Initial Tender Stage, and following this stage, the top three (3) ranked Tenderers were issued with an Invitation to Submit Detailed Tender (the "ISDT") and invited to the Detailed Tender Stage.

At the Detailed Tender Stage, quality was evaluated and a detailed review of the Schedules of Rates was undertaken for the purposes of providing feedback to the Tenderers. The Council did not apply the Price Per Quality Point evaluation method at Detailed Tender Stage. All three (3) Tenderers were issued with an Invitation to Submit Final Tender (the "ISFT").

At the Final Tender Stage of the Procurement the Council evaluated the Tenderers' quality responses and used the Schedules of Rates to calculate the Tenderers' Price per Quality Point. The most economically advantageous Tenderer was determined by the Tenderer receiving the lowest Price per Quality Point. Additional information: The Current HTMC delivers a number of essential and statutory services, including the following:

  • Winter Service Provision - e.g. gritting/salting the road network during freezing conditions including ploughing during snow events.
  • Drainage Maintenance and Capital Projects - e.g. cyclical highway drainage cleansing, emergency response during storm events and capital drainage repair schemes.
  • Structures - e.g. bridge repairs, tunnel maintenance and management and construction of new structures.
  • Highway patching and small to medium-scale road asset renewal works - e.g. pothole repairs and larger surface defect repairs of the highway.
  • Pavement asset preservation services - e.g. carriageway and footway life extension treatments such as surface dressing.
  • Emergency Response - e.g. responding to emergencies across the network due to weather, emergency services support, vehicle collisions, and structural asset failure both in hours and out of hours, 24/7/365.
  • Highway Improvement Scheme Delivery - e.g. construction of schemes for crash remedial measures, engineering and traffic schemes and S.106 requirements.

The below is a summary of the scope for the Contract:

  • Routine maintenance
  • Highways schemes
  • Structures and Tunnels maintenance
  • High Speed Road maintenance programme
  • Emergency and Out of Hours
  • Winter service
  • Drainage civil schemes
  • Drainage cleansing
  • Road and footway patching / pothole repairs
  • Small/Medium reactive road asset renewal
  • Signs maintenance
  • Lining maintenance
  • Barrier repairs
  • Asset improvements
  • Pavement asset preservation services
  • Professional services ((limited to design for civil engineering works to assist the delivery of projects)
  • Major Projects (up to £5m)

Due to the term of the Contract and the nature of the Services, the Council has reserved the right to include additional supporting and/or related services in the Scope during the term of the Contract and in accordance with its terms.

Delivery: South East
Extensions: The Contract provides for an extension of up to a maximum aggregate of seven (7) years (84 months), depending on both the success in achieving the required outcomes and the availability of further funding. The Contract includes a performance regime that may result in the adjustment of its term. The scope includes the potential for the following local authorities to have access to in order to deliver specific schemes/projects: 1. Ashford Borough Council 2. Canterbury City Council 3. Dartford Borough Council 4. Dover District Council 5. Folkestone and Hythe District Council 6. Gravesham Borough Council 7. Maidstone Borough Council 8. Medway Council 9. Sevenoaks District Council 10. Swale Borough Council 11. Thanet District Council 12. Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council 13. Tunbridge Wells Borough CouncilVariant bids: not allowed

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
How bids were scored
Price: 100%
Published sub-criteria (1)
  • Price per Quality Point: 100%
Published award criteria (1)
  • Price per Quality Point: 100
Staff
Names and qualifications of delivery staff must be submitted
Successive reduction
Candidates will be reduced successively across stages
What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 100 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 10 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record · publisher note attached
Procedure method
Competitive procedure with negotiation
Legal basis
CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Awarded
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
21 Oct 2024, 16:36 BST
Last source update
5 Dec 2025, 17:20 GMT
Authority reference
SC24029
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-080361
Classification (CPV)
Control, safety, signalling and light equipmentGully cleaning and emptying servicesHighway maintenance workRepair, maintenance and associated services related to roads and other equipmentRoad equipmentTraffic-monitoring equipmentWinter-maintenance materialsWinter-maintenance vehicles
Delivery area
South East (UKJ4)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04afcb Find a Tender
Contract terms
Electronic trading
e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment
Performance terms

There is the potential for a contract extension of a further 7 years (84 months), depending on both the success in achieving the required outcomes and the availability of further funding. The Contract will also include a performance regime that may result in the adjustment of its term. Further detail will be provided in the draft Contract/scope and draft ITT, which will be published in due course (please see the Indicative Timetable in the PIM).

Publisher note: The estimated total value of this Procurement has been calculated as £2bn. This figure takes into account (i) recent and current annual spend of circa £50-60m; (ii) a maximum total term of 21 years (plus a 6 month mobilisation period); (iii) the potential impact on costs of inflation; and (iv) the ability for the Council, and the potential for the local authorities listed in section II.2.11, to deliver individual projects or schemes through this Contract. The services under the Contract (as listed at Section II.2.14) are to be provided to the Council, but this Procurement also includes the potential for the local authorities listed in Section II.2.11 to have access to in order to deliver specific schemes/projects. At the Final Tender Stage, the Council identified the most economically advantageous tender using the Price per Quality Point evaluation method (please see above).

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: ProContract (Due North) · Who buys & how to bid on ProContract
Supplier login requiredLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free · short registration with manual review; public opportunity list
Submission deadline
25 Nov 2024, 12:00 GMT
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission"}
Accepted languages
en
Bid validity
180 days from the deadline
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

25 Nov 2024 → 5 Dec 2025 · 3 dates
  1. Submission deadline
    25 Nov 2024, 12:00 GMT
  2. Invitations to tender expected
    9 Dec 2024
  3. Notice published321 days ago
    5 Dec 2025, 17:20 GMT

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 5 Dec 2025
  1. Status changed to complete
    5 Dec 2025, 17:20 GMT
  2. Buyer details updated
    5 Dec 2025, 17:20 GMT

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded value Not summedvery large published value (£1bn+), not counted until verified; check the notice
Bids received 3
Contracts signed 1latest 19 Nov 2025
Awarded toValueDateStatus
Ringway Infrastructure Services Limited£2,000,000,000 †very large published value · not counted until verified, check the notice—Awarded

Contracts

Bid statistics published by the authority

BidsSMEVCSEValid bid range
3bids———

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

2 public bodies on the notice

Kent County Council

Contracting authorityLocal CouncilRegional or local authorityGeneral public services County Hall, Maidstone, South East, ME14 1XQContact name, email Published organisation website ↗

Dispute resolution & review bodies

  • Royal Courts of JusticeReview body LondonContact phone

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

  • Economic and financial selection criteriatenderEconomic and financial selection criteria
  • Technical selection criteriatenderTechnical selection criteria