UK: Network Rail has appointed 15 contractors to its Eastern Routes Partnership framework, which is designed to enable it to directly award key infrastructure contracts worth £3·5bn during Control Period 7, with the option to extend for CP8.
Network Rail said removing the need for individual procurements would save time, offer better value for money and allow for earlier collaboration.
Generalist suppliers which form the core partnership team have been selected across discipline-specific lots to deliver the larger, more complex projects, as well as for emerging single discipline enhancements.
Specialist suppliers have been awarded a workbank where, due to the scale or scope of the requirement, NR needs a particular specialism.
‘This launch is the culmination of two years of hard work to bring real innovation to our commercial delivery in CP7’, said NR Managing Director for Eastern Region Jake Kelly on May 8. ‘It’s designed to strengthen our relationships with our supply chain partners, letting us utilise their skills and experience. ERP also lets us take a more collaborative approach by bringing our engineers, delivery teams and the suppliers together, earlier, to identify the minimum viable product.’
Keltbray Group CEO Darren James said the CP7 framework lots it has been appointed to ‘are part of our strategic plan to position Keltbray as a leading infrastructure services provider in the rail and broader decarbonised transport sector. It will see us strengthen our relationship with Network Rail, and we look forward to continuing to work with them in a highly collaborative manner.’
