Key Points:
- Ealing Council is in the process of beginning the procurement process for a highways works contract worth approximately £140 million.
- The contract can last for a period of seven years, inclusive of extension provisions.
- The project has been divided into two different lots of equal value, each worth approximately £70 million without VAT.
- The first lot will consist of highway maintenance activities that include pothole repairs, gully cleansing, footway maintenance, road marking, winter services, emergency call outs, and resurfacing.
- The second lot is meant for highway and civil improvement works such as cycle works, bus priority scheme, junction improvement, sustainable drainage systems, traffic calming measures, and public realm improvements.
- Suppliers can tender for both lots and can be appointed for both.
- The main contract period will span for five years from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2032.
- Two different one year extension clauses have been put into consideration that may extend the contract expiry date to 31st March 2034.
- The procurement process will be through an open process that is guided by the Procurement Act of 2023.
- There is much emphasis placed on the commercial value of the contract, with the price making up 70% of the total score.
- Method statements take 20% of the scores and the social value makes up 10% of the same.
- The deadline for enquiring about the tender is set for 2nd October 2026, while the deadline for tenders is 30th October 2026 at noon.
- The expected contract award date is 22nd December 2026, based on data from Gov.uk Find a Tender.
uk/local/ealing/">Ealing (West London Times) September 14, 2026 – Ealing Council has officially launched procurement for a comprehensive highways works contract carrying an estimated total value of £140m over a prospective seven-year framework. The local authority in west London has structured its Highways Works Term Contract by dividing the massive undertaking into two distinct operational lots, with each lot valued at an estimated £70m excluding VAT, as detailed in documentation retrieved from Gov.uk Find a Tender.
Harmsworth outlined that lot one is strictly dedicated to core highway maintenance operations. This portion of the agreement covers essential day-to-day municipal upkeep, including pothole eradication, footway restorations, gully cleansing regimes, road markings, winter weather maintenance, emergency response call-outs, and broader resurfacing programmes across the borough.
Conversely, Harmsworth noted that lot two targets structural highway and civil engineering improvements. This segment encompasses the delivery of new cycle infrastructure, bus-priority corridors, major junction upgrades, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), traffic-calming interventions, and wider public realm enhancement works designed to modernise the borough’s transport network.
How is the contract structured and what are the timeline milestones?
According to the reporting by Harmsworth of Construction News, suppliers looking to secure work through this procurement exercise are permitted to bid for both lots and possess the eligibility to be appointed to both simultaneously.
The core duration of the contracts is slated to begin on 1 April 2027, running for an initial five-year term until 31 March 2032. Furthermore, Harmsworth stated that Ealing Council has integrated structural options allowing the authority to extend the contractual arrangements by two successive one-year periods. Should these options be fully exercised, the maximum possible lifespan of the arrangement will stretch out until 31 March 2034.
Regarding the procurement methodology, Harmsworth specified that the local authority is administering the process by utilizing an open procedure under the legal framework of the Procurement Act 2023. Interested parties must navigate a strict timeline: the formal enquiry deadline has been fixed for 2 October 2026, while completed tender submissions must be uploaded and returned by noon on 30 October 2026. Following evaluation, Harmsworth reported that an official contract award decision is scheduled to be announced on 22 December 2026.
What criteria will Ealing Council use to evaluate supplier bids?
In terms of how submissions will be judged, Harmsworth of Construction News detailed that the evaluation model heavily favours financial competitiveness. Bids for both lots are assessed using a weighted scoring matrix where price accounts for the vast majority at 70 per cent of the overall score.
The remaining points are distributed between technical execution and community impact. Harmsworth stated that method statements account for 20 per cent of the evaluation criteria, while social value initiatives make up the final 10 per cent of the scoring allocation. Ealing Council has advised prospective bidders that comprehensive financial, technical, and contractual requirements are fully articulated within its official invitation to tender documentation published via Gov.uk Find a Tender.
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Background of the Ealing Council Highways Procurement
The launch of this £140m procurement vehicle arrives amid a broader nationwide trend of local authorities overhauling their highways and civil engineering frameworks to secure long-term pricing stability and address chronic underinvestment in local road networks. Local councils across England have increasingly turned to multi-year term contracts—such as recent high-profile framework refreshes seen in Sefton, Bedfordshire, and across various Welsh council regions—to streamline contractor management, meet net-zero carbon targets, and integrate active travel infrastructure.
By utilizing the open procedure framework under the Procurement Act 2023, Ealing Council is aligning its procurement strategy with modern legislative mandates designed to speed up public sector commissioning, enhance transparency, and place a structured emphasis on economic value alongside community-focused social value outcomes.
How This Development Affects Local Suppliers and Residents
This £140m capital and operational investment will profoundly impact local suppliers, regional contractors, and Ealing residents over the next decade. For construction and civil engineering supply chains, the division of the framework into two distinct £70m lots creates significant multi-year revenue certainty, allowing successful bidders to invest in local workforce training, low-carbon machinery, and sustainable supply networks. The heavy 70 per cent weighting on price means competition will be fierce, forcing tenderers to present highly optimized operational efficiencies.
For local residents and road users within the London Borough of Ealing, the implementation of lot one and lot two translates into visible, long-term improvements in local environmental safety and transport connectivity. The targeted focus on pothole repairs, winter maintenance, and rapid emergency response will directly improve daily highway reliability. Meanwhile, civil engineering initiatives such as expanded cycle infrastructure, bus-priority measures, and sustainable drainage systems will advance the borough’s local environmental objectives and modernise public spaces.
