27 Nov 12
Mersey Gateway procurement enters final stage
The procurement competition for the Mersey Gateway Project has now entered the final stage.
Detailed submissions from the three bidders are now being developed with Halton Borough Council. The project team will now spend the coming months evaluating the three bids against a set of detailed criteria that focuses on both quality and value for money. When the council requirements have been satisfied, bidders will be asked to submit their final tenders, leading to the selection of the preferred bidder.
The three bidders are competing for a 30-year contract to design, build, finance and operate a new cable-stayed toll bridge over the River Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes in north-west England.
Mersey Gateway project director Steve Nicholson said: "We are very pleased with the quality of discussions that we have had with each of the bidders during the past nine months of competitive dialogue. The next few months will be spent analysing the details of their final proposals and I am confident that we will emerge with a committed partner that will help us deliver this exciting project."
The value of the construction phase of the project, including land, is estimated at US$960 million. The total project costs/revenues over the next 30 years will be about US$3.2 billion.
The intention is to announce a preferred bidder in the spring of 2013 and sign a contract by the end of that year. It is anticipated that construction work will start in late 2013, and that the new bridge will take about three years to complete.
The three shortlisted consortia were selected earlier this year from an initial group of six bids received by the project team in December 2011.
The three consortia bidding for the project are: