Highway Terms Services Commissioning Programme

Kent County Council (the Council) is the largest county council in England, covering an area of 3,500 square kilometres. It has an annual expenditure of over 900,000,000 GBP on goods and services and a population of 1,300,000. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with 12 district councils and 305 parish and town councils. The Council is responsible for maintaining over 8 700 km of carriageways and 6 300 km of footways across the County.


The Council entered into a contract with Amey on the 1 September 2011 initially for a five-year term with potential extension for a further 5 years. This delivers a range of highway term maintenance services that include (but is not limited to) the following:


• Winter Service Provision — i.e. pre-salting of our highway network in accordance with our policy

• Drainage Maintenance and Capital Projects — i.e. gully cleansing, drainage investigation and repairs

• Structures Maintenance — i.e. bridge repairs and construction

• Patching and Small Resurfacing Services — i.e. pothole repairs and patching of the highway

• General Maintenance — i.e. kerbing works, slab and brick works, guard railings, signs and reactive hand lining

• Surface Treatments — i.e., surface dressing, high friction surfacing, micro asphalts and slurry sealing

• Emergency and out of hours Response — i.e. provision of a 24/7/365 emergency highways service to deal with any highway related incidents

• Highway Schemes Delivery — i.e. construction of smaller civils and traffic related schemes

• Signs, lines and barriers — i.e. routine maintenance and replacement of asset


The current contract will expire on the 31 May 2021 where no further extensions will be permitted within the contract. The average spend during the last five financial years has been £45m per annum even through the challenging public sector funding conditions.


The Council are currently evaluating a number of commissioning options and wish to engage with suppliers to help inform its thinking. Commissioning options are set out within a Cabinet Report (attached) presented on the 27 January 2020. This includes:


• Commissioning a countywide core contract

• Commissioning two/three core contracts

• Commissioning separate countywide specialist services


The Council intend to issue a call or a number of calls for competition in line with the developed procurement strategy in the Summer of 2020. It is anticipated that contracts will be awarded and subsequently start the mobilisation period(s) from January 2021.


Contractors who wish to express an interest (EOI) must do so via the opportunity listed on the Kent Business Portal. The Council will use this engagement to inform interested suppliers of our progress and may also ask for feedback on potential proposals as they develop.


Organisations who do not express an interest in response to this PIN will not be precluded from applying to take part in the Council's chosen procurement strategy and conclusion of our engagement findings will be shared with the published call or calls for competition.