Construction Contract Leads

Scope

Reference

CT4946

Description

The East West Railway Company (the Authority) is responsible for the delivery of East West Rail (EWR), a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project providing new and upgraded rail links between Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge. EWR Co. is responsible for leading the development, procurement and commissioning of the railway.

The Authority is undertaking a procurement for an Integration, Technical, Operations, Assurance and Environmental (ITOAE) Partner to support the development and delivery of the EWR programme.

Overview of the Intended Contract.

The Authority is appointing a single ITOAE Partner under an NEC4 Professional Service Contract, operated as a term appointment, for a period of up to twelve (12) years, with value-for-money breakpoints at Years 3, 6 and 9. The ITOAE Partner is a single contract: it is not a framework and it is not divided into lots. Services comprise a continuous Core Services baseline across all five pillars (Integration; Technical; Operations; Assurance; and Environmental & Consents), with time-bound Authorised Services instructed as required.

Relationship with the CSF and main works.

The Authority is separately procuring a Client Support Framework (CSF). The Authority's position is that the ITOAE Partner will be structurally separated from the CSF and from the main works: the appointed ITOAE Partner will not be eligible to be awarded a main works contract or a place on the CSF for the duration of the ITOAE contract. The purpose of this separation is to protect the independence of integration and assurance, to mitigate real or perceived conflicts of interest, and to align with independent review findings on major programme governance (including the Stewart Review, 2025).

Conditions of Participation.

The conditions of participation are summarised in the Participation section of this notice and will be assessed, with full detail and scoring, in the Pre-Selection Questionnaire (PSQ) issued at the selection stage, in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement Regulations 2024.

Indicative Scope of Services.

At this stage, the Authority has defined the high-level scope of services. These are expected to include, by pillar:

Integration: support EWR's Prime System Integrator role; develop and maintain the System Integration Strategy and Master Integration Schedule; identify, manage and resolve technical, organisational and contractual interfaces; configuration control and change alignment; migration and transition planning; coordinate integration with Network Rail, TOCs/FOCs, DfT, ORR and adjacent programmes; manage integration risks and assumptions; coordinate systems integration testing and proving; and uplift EWR's integration capability.

Technical: define and maintain technical frameworks, standards and design principles; provide independent technical challenge and assurance of design; support the Client's Design Authority; systems engineering (SEMP, requirements, MBSE); manage technical interfaces; digital integration (BIM / ISO 19650, Digital Spine); testing, validation and Entry Into Service readiness; capability to act as Lead Design Organisation (LDO) under NR/L2/RSE/02009 for specified areas; design maturity assessment at PACE reviews; legislation and standards management; safety cases (EN 50126/50128/50129) and Independent Safety Assessment coordination; and whole-life asset management (ISO 55000).

Operations: support the Concept of Operations and Maintenance; train plan and timetable development and modelling; operational performance modelling; rolling stock (BEMU) and depot support; route compatibility and certification; Trial Running and Trial Operations; operational readiness and Entry Into Service; staff competence and route learning; and integration with Train Operators and the future Infrastructure Manager (Network Rail / GBR).

Assurance: provide independent, programme-level (second-line / LOD2) assurance across all pillars; define and implement the assurance framework and schedule; coordinate design, technical and construction assurance; authorisation and certification strategies; submit evidence to regulators; track assurance actions to closure; provide a Construction Quality capability under NR/L2/RSE/02009; support GMPP reporting to DfT and NISTA; maintain the Integrated Assurance & Approvals Strategy; and assure ISO 19650, CDE and Digital Spine compliance.

Environmental & Consents: coordinate the environmental and consents strategy; manage post-DCO consents and approvals; assure environmental compliance and commitments; lead carbon and sustainability (PAS 2080, BREEAM); support NPSNN compliance; manage DCO commitments and Requirements discharge; maintain the Environmental Statement and monitoring; support Biodiversity Net Gain; set and audit the Code of Construction Practice / LEMP standard; and coordinate statutory pollution, noise and species consents and licensing.

This procurement will be run concurrently with others. Bidders may tender for any or all of the Lots/Contracts identified in the table shown in document 'ITOAE - Appendix A - Package Bidding and Award Constraints'. This approach is intended to support market participation and allow bidders to put forward appropriate delivery solutions.

However, submitting tenders for multiple Lots/Contracts across the Procurements does not mean a bidder will be eligible to be awarded all Lots/Contracts. Award decisions will be subject to the Lot/Contract interaction rules set out in the letter, which are intended to:

• Maintain independence between assurance, management and delivery functions.

• Avoid conflicts of interest.

• Prevent excessive concentration of specialist services within a single organisation.

• Preserve effective commercial oversight.

• Ensure suppliers have sufficient capacity and capability to successfully deliver awarded contracts.

Please ensure you refer to the document 'ITOAE - Appendix A - Package Bidding and Award Constraints' or further detail.

Total value (estimated)

• £300,000,000 excluding VAT
• £360,000,000 including VAT

Above the relevant threshold

Contract dates (estimated)

• 3 April 2028 to 31 March 2040
• 11 years, 11 months, 28 days

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

• 71300000 - Engineering services
• 71311000 - Civil engineering consultancy services
• 71311230 - Railway engineering services
• 71248000 - Supervision of project and documentation
• 72224000 - Project management consultancy services
• 71317210 - Health and safety consultancy services
• 90700000 - Environmental services

Contract locations

• UKH - East of England
• UKJ - South East (England)
• UKF - East Midlands (England)

Participation

Legal and financial capacity conditions of participation

Assessed on a pass/fail basis at the selection (PSQ) stage. Requirements:

(a) audited accounts for the last two financial years;

(b) minimum average annual turnover of [Authority to confirm] over the last two financial years (not more than twice the estimated annual contract value, in line with the Procurement Act 2023);

(c) evidence of economic and financial standing (for example a credit rating or equivalent); and

(d) the following insurances in place on award: professional indemnity [to confirm], public liability [to confirm] and employer's liability [to confirm].

Full detail and the scoring basis are set out in the PSQ issued at the selection stage.

Technical ability conditions of participation

Assessed on a pass/fail and scored basis at the selection (PSQ) stage, covering:

(a) relevant experience of comparable integration, technical, operations, assurance and environmental and consents services on major rail or nationally significant infrastructure programmes (example contracts within the last [to confirm] years);

(b) capability and capacity to resource a continuous Core Services baseline across all five pillars, with time-bound Authorised Services instructed as required;

(c) relevant accreditations and standards (for example quality, health and safety, environmental and information management); and

(d) completion of the mandatory Ethical Walls Agreement where applicable (Appendix B).

Full detail and the scoring basis are set out in the PSQ issued at the selection stage.

Particular suitability

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)

Submission

Enquiry deadline

6 November 2026, 12:00pm

Submission type

Requests to participate

Deadline for requests to participate

13 November 2026, 12:00pm

Submission address and any special instructions

https://eastwestrail.ukp.app.jaggaer.com/esop/guest/go/opportunity/detail?opportunityId=61134

Tenders may be submitted electronically

Yes

Languages that may be used for submission

English

Suppliers to be invited to tender

Maximum 5 suppliers

Selection criteria:

Documents are issued in stages. Issued now, with this notice: the Guidance for Interested Parties, Appendix A (Package Bidding and Award Constraints), Appendix B (Ethical Walls Agreement), Appendix C (Expression of Interest), Appendix D (Market Engagement Findings) and Appendix E (E-Sourcing Guide).

To proceed, an interested party must submit Appendix C (Expression of Interest) and, where applicable, the signed Appendix B (Ethical Walls Agreement) by 13 November 2026. This is the gateway to the competition; parties who do not submit by this deadline will not be issued the selection documents.

The Ethical Walls Agreement is mandatory for all parties to which it applies (existing Authority suppliers, and any party, including consortium members, affiliates and subcontractors, with access to Authority confidential information). It is issued on a non-negotiable basis and must be signed and returned as issued; it must not be amended or marked up, and any amended version will be rejected.

The Pre-Selection Questionnaire (PSQ) documents only will then be released to cleared parties on 30 November 2026. The deadline for the request to participate (the completed PSQ) is 29 January 2027. This is the PSQ deadline, not the Expression of Interest deadline.

The Invitation to Tender (ITT) is not issued at this stage. It will be issued to selected participants at the next stage.

Award decision date (estimated)

30 November 2027

Award criteria

Other information

Conflicts assessment prepared/revised

Yes

Procedure

Procedure type

Competitive flexible procedure

Special regime

Utilities

Competitive flexible procedure description

This is a multi-stage Competitive Flexible Procedure. Stage 0: Expression of Interest (Appendix C) and, where applicable, the signed Ethical Walls Agreement (Appendix B), which is the gateway to receiving the selection documents. Stage 1 (Selection): completion of the Pre-Selection Questionnaire (PSQ), by which interested parties submit their request to participate and are assessed against the conditions of participation. Stage 2 (Tender): the Invitation to Tender (ITT) is issued to selected participants. Stage 3: evaluation and award. The process, timetable and documents are set out in the Guidance for Interested Parties issued with this notice.

Documents

Documents to be provided after the tender notice

Documents are issued in stages. Issued now, with this notice: the Guidance for Interested Parties, Appendix A (Package Bidding and Award Constraints), Appendix B (Ethical Walls Agreement), Appendix C (Expression of Interest), Appendix D (Market Engagement Findings) and Appendix E (E-Sourcing Guide).

To proceed, an interested party must submit Appendix C (Expression of Interest) and, where applicable, the signed Appendix B (Ethical Walls Agreement) by 13 November 2026. This is the gateway to the competition; parties who do not submit by this deadline will not be issued the selection documents.

The Ethical Walls Agreement is mandatory for all parties to which it applies (existing Authority suppliers, and any party, including consortium members, affiliates and subcontractors, with access to Authority confidential information). It is issued on a non-negotiable basis and must be signed and returned as issued; it must not be amended or marked up, and any amended version will be rejected.

The Pre-Selection Questionnaire (PSQ) documents only will then be released to cleared parties on 30 November 2026. The deadline for the request to participate (the completed PSQ) is 29 January 2027. This is the PSQ deadline, not the Expression of Interest deadline.

The Invitation to Tender (ITT) is not issued at this stage. It will be issued to selected participants at the next stage.

Contracting authority

East West Rail Company Limited

• Companies House: 11072935

The Quadrant, Milton Keynes

MILTON KEYNES

MK9 1EN

United Kingdom

Email: Commercial [at] eastwestrail.co.uk

Region: UKJ12 - Milton Keynes

Organisation type: Public authority - central government

• Share
• Share
• Share