A guide to road safety contracts and where to find them

Road safety contracts are constantly being released and large projects can be worth millions. The majority of road safety contracts are released by the public sector. They allow businesses to maintain and improve roads and transport links across the country.

Road safety contracts are great opportunities for SMEs as the government are actively awarding contracts to small businesses.

Road safety contacts, schemes, funds and grants

There are numerous schemes and grants released by the Department for Transport (DfT), Road Safety Trust and Highways England annually. These contracts can run for years at a time and provide lucrative opportunities for your business.

It isn’t just road safety contracts and schemes being awarded. The Road Safety Trust and Safer Roads Fund (SRF) often provide opportunities for grants and funding. The Road Safety Trust is re-opening their major themed grants programme on 25^th February 2021. The objective questions how technology can be used to reduce road offences and improve road safety. Innovative and environmentally sustainable admissions are encouraged.

Highways England are always seeking to improve and repair hundreds of miles of England’s roads. They have a £400 million commitment to a Road Investment Strategy to specifically improve the quality of concrete roads. Most of England’s concrete roads were built in the 1960s and 70s. They have now stretched beyond their original design life, carrying up to 25% more traffic than intended.

Obviously, road safety is of the highest priority when carrying out expansions, repair works and maintenance. Over £10 billion was spent in the public sector on roads in the UK in 2019/20. As the UK’s roads are in constant need of updating, it can be assumed that there is a steady stream of road safety contracts. 

Framework agreements

Road safety contracts will often be in the form of framework agreements and schemes. They are released to procure a range of goods, works and services within construction. Traditionally, a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) will be released. This allows potential suppliers to submit a bid to provide their services. If they meet and pass the minimum eligibility criteria, they will then be sent an invitation to tender (ITT).

For framework agreements, multiple suppliers if successful, are awarded a place on the framework. Any time the buyer has a project, they can release a mini competition to those on the framework. Suppliers don’t have to submit another PQQ and can go straight to their ITT response. This saves both time and money for the supplier and buyer.

Framework agreements often include ‘Lots’. Lots can be a specific service, product or even locations. Some examples of framework lots that cover the supply of activities, materials, plant and labour are:

• Accident Investigation
• Land agent services
• Infrastructure technical design
• Road lighting
• Risk assessments
• Traffic signals
• Anti-skid systems
• Traffic regulation Order Drafting services
• Waste management
• Traffic surveys
• Welfare facilities
• Deliver incident response (rapid response)

Typically, for road safety contracts, potential suppliers can go for up to three lots at a time. Three is also the maximum number of lots that can be award to a supplier on a framework.

MEAT

As with any public sector tender, the construction contract is awarded to the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT). You must bear in mind that buyers look at more than just cost. The cheapest bid does not win here. The public sector is looking to get the most value for money when accepting a supplier. They will look at certain aspects individually or combined such as:

• Environmental benefits
• Quality
• Innovation
• Technical ability

Social Value

It’s worth noting that for any public sector contract, there is a mandatory 10% weighting on social value. This means when completing your response for road safety contracts, you have to consider the social, economic and environmental aspects. You must note how your organisation plans to address these, making commitments you can keep.

Within construction bids it is particularly important to note how you will achieve sustainable development. You must demonstrate how you will deliver:

• Cleaner, more efficient production processes.
• Reduce environmental impacts.
• Effectively and sustainably manage waste and encourage recycling.
• Shift towards works, goods and services with lower impacts.
• The wellbeing of people and communities.
• New jobs or skills to tackle economic equality.
• Support of the recovery of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Your road safety contract response will likely need to have focus points on:

• Quality Management System requirements with a focus on contract management.
• Scope for innovation
• Technological solutions
• Health and safety
• Equal opportunities
• Relevant qualifications and accreditations
• Staff and subcontractors contact information
• Case studies of past work

Where can I find road safety contracts?

It is important that you are able to find the right road safety contracts for your business. It can take a large chunk out of your day searching hundreds of websites hosting a variety of sector opportunities.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have one central industry-specific portal that manually tracks and uploads relevant construction leads?

Enter – Construction Tenders!

Our Construction Tenders portal doesn’t rely on inaccurate CPV codes. Our Opportunity Trackers manually upload hundreds of sources daily. You are able to filter the results by keyword, budget, location and more. This saves you a great deal of time so you can focus on running your business.

Here are some previous road safety contracts sourced on our portal:

Area 10 M65 Junction 2 Safety Scheme GPR, Trial Pits, Asbestos and Lighting

Highways England- North West- Budget: £25,000

24-07-2020

C1545 – Staple Lodge Road Local Safety Scheme – West Heath

Birmingham City Council- west Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

30-10-2020

Pavement and Safety Improvement Scheme

Kerry County Council- International- Budget: Undisclosed

12-10-2020

N56 Four Lane Road – N56 Four Lane Road Safety Improvement Scheme

Donegal County Council- International- Budget: Undisclosed

06-10-2020

Local Safety Schemes 20/21

Swindon Borough Council- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

16-12-2020

A subscription with Construction Tenders offers your business:

• Access both private and public sector opportunities in the UK.
• The ability to filter hundreds of road safety contracts by keyword, budget, location and more.
• Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
• 20-minutes of free consultancy every month with our bid experts.

At Construction Tenders, we source opportunities for;

• Road Safety Tenders
• Architectural Tenders
• Refurbishment Tenders
• Brickwork Tenders
• Building Works
• Health & Safety Tenders
• Small Construction Tenders
• Civil Engineering Tenders
• Electrical Tenders
• Surveying Tenders
• Demolition Tenders
• Flooring Tenders
• Glass Tenders
• M&E
• Cost Consultancy
• Painting Contracts
• Decorating Tenders
• Masonry and many more.

Do you need help writing your road safety contract response?

Do you need some support with construction bids? Our sister company Hudson Succeed offers bid writing services. They have over 60 years of bidding experience and an 87% success rate. Whether you’re brand new to the tendering process, or you’ve tendered before – they have a service tailored for every need:

1. A Tender Ready
2. The Tender Improvement
3. Tender Writing
4. Tender Mentor