powered by
powered by
Road safety contracts are constantly being released and large projects can be worth millions. The majority of road safety contracts are released by the public sector. They allow businesses to maintain and improve roads and transport links across the country.
Road safety contracts are great opportunities for SMEs as the government are actively awarding contracts to small businesses.
There are numerous schemes and grants released by the Department for Transport (DfT), Road Safety Trust and Highways England annually. These contracts can run for years at a time and provide lucrative opportunities for your business.
It isn’t just road safety contracts and schemes being awarded. The Road Safety Trust and Safer Roads Fund (SRF) often provide opportunities for grants and funding. The Road Safety Trust is re-opening their major themed grants programme on 25th February 2021. The objective questions how technology can be used to reduce road offences and improve road safety. Innovative and environmentally sustainable admissions are encouraged.
Highways England are always seeking to improve and repair hundreds of miles of England’s roads. They have a £400 million commitment to a Road Investment Strategy to specifically improve the quality of concrete roads. Most of England’s concrete roads were built in the 1960s and 70s. They have now stretched beyond their original design life, carrying up to 25% more traffic than intended.
Obviously, road safety is of the highest priority when carrying out expansions, repair works and maintenance. Over £10 billion was spent in the public sector on roads in the UK in 2019/20. As the UK’s roads are in constant need of updating, it can be assumed that there is a steady stream of road safety contracts.
Road safety contracts will often be in the form of framework agreements and schemes. They are released to procure a range of goods, works and services within construction. Traditionally, a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) will be released. This allows potential suppliers to submit a bid to provide their services. If they meet and pass the minimum eligibility criteria, they will then be sent an invitation to tender (ITT).
For framework agreements, multiple suppliers if successful, are awarded a place on the framework. Any time the buyer has a project, they can release a mini competition to those on the framework. Suppliers don’t have to submit another PQQ and can go straight to their ITT response. This saves both time and money for the supplier and buyer.
Framework agreements often include ‘Lots’. Lots can be a specific service, product or even locations. Some examples of framework lots that cover the supply of activities, materials, plant and labour are:
Typically, for road safety contracts, potential suppliers can go for up to three lots at a time. Three is also the maximum number of lots that can be award to a supplier on a framework.
As with any public sector tender, the construction contract is awarded to the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT). You must bear in mind that buyers look at more than just cost. The cheapest bid does not win here. The public sector is looking to get the most value for money when accepting a supplier. They will look at certain aspects individually or combined such as:
It’s worth noting that for any public sector contract, there is a mandatory 10% weighting on social value. This means when completing your response for road safety contracts, you have to consider the social, economic and environmental aspects. You must note how your organisation plans to address these, making commitments you can keep.
Within construction bids it is particularly important to note how you will achieve sustainable development. You must demonstrate how you will deliver:
Your road safety contract response will likely need to have focus points on:
It is important that you are able to find the right road safety contracts for your business. It can take a large chunk out of your day searching hundreds of websites hosting a variety of sector opportunities.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have one central industry-specific portal that manually tracks and uploads relevant construction leads?
Enter – Construction Tenders!
Our Construction Tenders portal doesn’t rely on inaccurate CPV codes. Our Opportunity Trackers manually upload hundreds of sources daily. You are able to filter the results by keyword, budget, location and more. This saves you a great deal of time so you can focus on running your business.
Area 10 M65 Junction 2 Safety Scheme GPR, Trial Pits, Asbestos and Lighting
Highways England- North West- Budget: £25,000
24-07-2020
C1545 – Staple Lodge Road Local Safety Scheme – West Heath
Birmingham City Council- west Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed
30-10-2020
Pavement and Safety Improvement Scheme
Kerry County Council- International- Budget: Undisclosed
12-10-2020
N56 Four Lane Road – N56 Four Lane Road Safety Improvement Scheme
Donegal County Council- International- Budget: Undisclosed
06-10-2020
Local Safety Schemes 20/21
Swindon Borough Council- South West- Budget: Undisclosed
16-12-2020
Do you need some support with construction bids? Our sister company Hudson Succeed offers bid writing services. They have over 60 years of bidding experience and an 87% success rate. Whether you’re brand new to the tendering process, or you’ve tendered before – they have a service tailored for every need: