The birth of early contractor involvement
W J Edwards FICE FCIHT MCInstCES FCIArb, Director, W J Edwards & Associates
I READ with interest the article by David Kinlan and Kenneth Williams of Inframara BV (CES Oct 23 pp31-34) on infrastructure procurement and particularly their endorsement of early contractor involvement (ECI) contracts.
This set my old brain reminiscing on the birth of the first ECI contract, which was the A500 Pathfinder Project. Now before I go on, I know my Welsh colleagues will now be shouting at this. They would say that their A40 contract was the first ECI contract, however, I would remind them that their ECI contractor went into administration before completing the project so not a good endorsement.
The A500 or the D road as it is known locally, bypasses to the east the M6 from junction 15 to junction 16. It was constructed between 1974 and 1977, but due to budget issues (Denis Healey was the chancellor) the proposed grade-separated junctions at City Road and Stoke Road were never built and the junctions were left as roundabouts which created significant delays at peak periods – nothing changes! In the late 1990s, the then Highways Agency (HA) decided to grade separate the two junctions, but the then head of procurement Mr Steve Rowsell, who had his fingers burned as the project sponsor on the A34 Newbury bypass with ‘Swampy’, decided that the traditional contract should be reviewed and ECI was born.
Submission
The then head of procurement Mr Steve Rowsell, who had his fingers burned as the project sponsor on the A34 Newbury bypass with ‘Swampy’, decided that the traditional contract should be reviewed and ECI was born.
Now to my involvement. This was before the HA design frameworks, so I was working for Parkman Consulting Engineers out of its Ellesmere Port office and we were invited to tender for the role of employer’s agent. I produced the tender submission which was on a quality/price (60/40) assessment. I remember it so well as I took the completed tender to the Highways Agency’s office in Birmingham before pulling off the M6 at Hilton Services to watch the total eclipse of the sun in August 1999. I then went on a three week holiday in France.
On my return, I found out that we had been invited to a tender interview which I attended with my director, David Ogden and our environmental consultant, Barry Moore. The interview panel consisted of Neil Owen and Gary Wright of the HA plus a representative from the City of Stoke on Trent (whose name I have now forgotten) – but an indication how close the HA and local authority were working together on this project; due to the regeneration effects it would bring.
Declaration of interest
I now have to declare an interest – which at the interview I did. Unbeknown to me before I entered the room was that the HA’s representative was Neil Owen, who I had met at Leeds University when we lived in the same hall of residence and studied civil engineering together. In fact, we shared a flat in our final year and I and my future wife attended his wedding!
Back to the interview, which was the traditional question and answer, but I do remember a question from Gary Wright on how our fee was, in his words, ‘competitive’ i.e. cheap! My response came as surprise to him as I said that this is proposed to be an ECI contract, thus the traditional employer’s consultant checking the design does not apply and we would take a hands-off approach – which in the end I think won us the job.
The only tender requirement was there was to be a strong emphasis on the environmental benefits the project would bring.While most of the work was within then existing highway boundary there was some land required so I met with the affected landowners, including Mr John Caudwell – the founder of Phones 4U – whose offices were adjacent to the City Road junction.
I also assisted the HA’s external lawyers (based where else but in London) prepare the contract documents, which was based on its design build finance and operate (DBFO) contract – no NEC then that was to follow later on the A30 Bodmin to Indian Queens; another Parkman project.
Tender
The tender for the ECI contract was won by Nuttall with its designer Hyder, (now Arcadis). The tender was led by Ian Parish who only last year retired as managing director of Bam Nuttall. Due to the nature of the ECI contract there were many tender surgeries during the long tender period, 26 weeks if my memory is correct. All tenderers had a blank sheet of paper to work from, so the choice of going under or over Stoke Road and City Road was up to them.
The only tender requirement was there was to be a strong emphasis on the environmental benefits the project would bring. As there was a need to acquire some land there was a compulsory purchase order and hence a public inquiry, which lasted all of two days! – but it did not stop there being a High Court challenge to making the orders.
Construction commenced in March 2004 and was completed in September 2006. So, the whole process from appointing Parkman as employer’s agent, preparing a completely new set of contract documents, detailed design, public inquiry and construction took seven years – I think that is a great testament to ECI contracts.
W J Edwards FICE FCIHT MCInstCES FCIArb, Director, W J Edwards & Associates