Market Engagement - Highways Maintenance Future Requirements

The publication of this PIN starts the market engagement process for Somerset County Council’s (the Authority’s), Core highways maintenance services, Surfacing, Surface Dressing and New Assets requirements. The Authority wishes to engage with potential suppliers with an expertise in the successful delivery of similar services and obtain feedback on the Authority’s proposed approach and procurement process.

The Authority wishes to put in place contracts which deliver Core highways maintenance services, Surfacing, Surface Dressing and New Assets and also facilitates a flexible mechanism for the appointed suppliers or supplier to identify and implement innovative services, solutions, promote recycling and re-use, and reduce the environmental impact of the services delivered throughout the lifetime of the contracts. The new contracts will need to support the Authority’s Climate Emergency Strategy and commitment to being carbon neutral by 2030. The Authority hopes to establish new ways of delivering these services to the residents of Somerset, maximising the potential for success for the Authority and the appointed Contractor(s). At present, most of the Authority's highways maintenance activities are delivered through its existing Term Maintenance Contract which is due to expire in April 2024 and will be replaced with the new approach.

The objective of the Authority is to develop a suite of new contracts which will deliver the following outcomes:

• A network that is adapted and resilient to climate change with a reduced carbon output, both in usage and maintenance to contribute to the commitment for Somerset to be carbon neutral by 2030.
• A safe, serviceable and sustainable network that is fit for purpose for all users under all conditions and supports the development of the local economy.
• A service based on the intelligent client model that develops and sustains collaborative partnerships that deliver the objectives of all partners.
• A flexible and agile service that attracts and retains the best people and embraces best practice and new technologies to enable innovation.
• Sustain a financially resilient service that adopts robust asset management principles and delivers best value with the resources available.
• Optimise service efficiency and maximise income from commercialisation and external funding.
• A service that maximises social value and provides valuable local opportunities for individuals and businesses.
• An informed community that has high public satisfaction and is engaged and enabled to do more for themselves.

The Authority will discuss these high-level commissioning intentions with bidders at the market engagement event on 28th February 2022.

Description of intended Highways Maintenance requirements – The current Highways Term Maintenance Contract will be delivered in future by four separate contracts.

• Core Term Maintenance - approximate value of £150,000,000 and duration 8 years + opportunity to extend for a further 4
• Surfacing - approximate value of £25,000,000 and duration 4 years
• Surface Dressing - approximate value of £25,000,000 and duration 4 years
• New Assets – These include Small Improvement Schemes, Safety Schemes, Active Travel Schemes, Bus Service Improvement Plan Schemes etc, and may extend to schemes funded/ promoted by third parties - approximate value (subject to successful bids for funding) in the range of £10,000,000 to £20,000,000 and duration of 4 years

The Authority is publishing this PIN to inform the market of its future intentions regarding the above and to seek feedback and intelligence from the market to allow the Authority to consider its approach.

A Market Engagement Event will be hosted online by Somerset County Council on 28th Feb 2022. Suppliers who wish to participate in this information sharing session need to register their interest through the listing posted on the Supplying the South West portal to receive the event link to be hosted through Microsoft Teams.