United Utilities, a water company in the North West, has initiated a significant project bid race, with an estimated value of £5.5 billion. The company’s AMP8 and AMP9 investment plans are expected to be considerably larger than in previous years. To manage the increased workload, United Utilities has developed a model consisting of five delivery runways.

The Construction Delivery Partner (CDP) frameworks, which are currently open for bidding, will form the design and build delivery runway within the new procurement model. The works will encompass complex capital projects ranging from £5 million to £100 million and have been divided into two lots.

The Complex Non-Infrastructure lot, which includes water and wastewater treatment, pumping station, and reservoir construction, will be awarded to up to six firms. These firms will share a pipeline of work estimated at £4 billion. The other lot, Complex Infrastructure, will cover pipeline work, with six potential delivery partners sharing £1.5 billion of work.

Companies interested in bidding have until September 6 to submit prequalification documents. Shortlisted bidders will be invited to submit tenders on October 23. The framework is expected to be operational from the end of July 2024.