United Utilities starts £5.5bn major project bid race

United Utilities has started the hunt for contractors to deliver complex design and build projects for a programme worth £5.5bn over 10 years.The North West water company’s AMP8 and AMP9 investment plans are set to be significantly larger than years.To deliver the ramping up of work, United Utilities has created a model of five delivery runways.The Construction Delivery Partner (CDP) frameworks now out to bid will form the design and build delivery runway within the new procurement model.Works will cover complex capital projects from £5m-£100m and have been split into two lots.The Complex Non-Infrastructure lot covering water and waste water treatment, pumping station and reservoir construction will be awarded to up to six firms, sharing a pipeline of work estimated at £4bn.The other Complex Infrastructure lot will cover pipelines work, with six potential delivery partners sharing £1.5bn of work.Firms have until 6 September to submit prequalification documents, with shortlisted bidders invited to submit tenders on 23 October.The framework will come into force from the end of July 2024.