The updated version of the full three-year plan is still not ready. Nor is there any sign of the 30-year National Infrastructure Strategy, expected initially last December 2019 and then in March 2020.
The 2020 National Infrastructure and Construction Procurement Pipeline, published by the Infrastructure & Project Authority today, lists 340 procurement contracts across 269 government projects set to come to market in the next 12 months. Total value of the work is estimated to be between £29bn and £37bn during the 2020-21 financial year.
The last National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline, published in 2018, provided a three year overview, up to 2021. That detailed 684 projects with total value of £56.7bn (at 2020 prices).
Nick Smallwood, chief executive of the Infrastructure & Projects Authority, explains in the forward of the June 2020 report: “ The National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline published in 2018 set out the UK’s planned infrastructure investment to 2021 and beyond. In response to Covid-19 and subsequent requests from industry to provide short to medium-term certainty, this National Infrastructure and Construction Procurement Pipeline goes a step further by setting out contracts planned to be brought to market throughout 2020/21… By publishing this procurement pipeline we are able to provide visibility of where infrastructure investment is being made and by whom. In publishing projections of short term procurement, we aim to boost market confidence and help the sector with business planning during this challenging period. In addition, we will seek to publish a full National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline later in the year.”
Construction work including building, design & build and civil engineering makes up over half of the work going out to market in 2020/21. Of the remaining estimated contract value, £7.9bn to £11.6bn is architectural and engineering services, £600m to £800m is research and development and consultancy services and £3.2bn to £5.7bn is repair & maintenance work.
Projects where contracts have already been awarded or where funding has already been drawn down are not be included in the procurement pipeline. Projects in the early stages of development are also not included in the procurement pipeline for 2020/21. This pipeline sets out those procurements that are planned to go to market in 2020/21, some of which will be awarded within this financial year and others to be awarded in future years.
The procurement pipeline contains projects and programmes distributed across the UK but the majority of the value of the procurement pipeline relates to spending in England. This is because most infrastructure spending in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is the responsibility of each devolved administration.
| Sector | No. of Procurements | No. ofProjects | No. of Programmes | Estimated Minimum Contract Value (£'m) | Estimated Maximum Contract Value (£'m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transport | 57 | 46 | 7 | £12,690.3 | £20,676.4 |
| Waste | 10 | - | 10 | £13.8 | £13.8 |
| Communications | 3 | - | 3 | £74.3 | £74.8 |
| Energy | 9 | 9 | - | £177.5 | £397.5 |
| Flood Defence | 9 | 5 | 4 | £999.6 | £1,004.2 |
| Science and Research | 12 | 11 | 1 | £81.8 | £169.2 |
| Defence | 51 | 46 | 1 | £4,963.2 | £5,018.2 |
| Utilities | 36 | 8 | 28 | £4,718.4 | £4,733.7 |
| Social Infrastructure | 153 | 48 | 41 | £5,060.9 | £5,265.8 |
| Total | 340 | 173 | 95 | £28,779.7 | £37,353.6 |
For more info see: National Infrastructure and Construction Procurement Pipeline 2020/21
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