Specialist Professional, Environmental, Customer Insight, Technical, Research and Engineering Services (SPECTRE) Framework

Provision of specialist, professional, technical consultancy, engineering advice, research, innovation and procurement advice services across a range of transport related topics.

The framework will be divided into 2 lots and will be for a duration of 4 years.

Lot 1: Value £250m The provision of technical consultancy, engineering advice, research and innovation for roads, vehicles, highway infrastructure and operations on the following topics:

(a) asset operation, maintenance, assurance and performance; (b) business support; (c) communications and data transfer; (d) customer insight research, market research and publicity; (e) design standards manuals and departures; (f) economics, statistics and transport modelling; (g) enforcement policy; (h) environmental; (i) geotechnical engineering; (j) health and safety, security, road safety and vehicle restraint; (k) highway structures; (l) identity and image; (m) incident management and traffic officer service; (n) intelligent transport; (o) management information systems; (p) network resilience; (q) pavement engineering; (r) pilots and trials; (s) post implementation evaluation; (t) quality management; (u) risk and value management; (v) road user behaviour; (w) strategic transport planning and policy; (x) sustainability; (y) traffic signals and road lighting; (z) transport engineering.

For Lot 1 there will be a maximum of 7 suppliers appointed. It is expected that the successful suppliers will utilise a diverse supply chain to provide specialist support in the required areas.

Lot 2: Value £50m. The provision of procurement advice and support for contract development, supply chain analysis and general procurement activities, including commercial assessment support.

For Lot 2 there will be a maximum of 6 suppliers appointed. It is expected that the successful suppliers will utilise a focused supply chain to reduce opportunities for conflicts of interest in the supported procurement activities.

General: Work under the framework may be awarded following mini-competition, following a single response to a request for expressions of interest or through a direct award to a single supplier.

The main site of performance of the activities is England. However, successful suppliers may be requested to work outside of England in support of the organisations enabled to use this framework, as noted in the additional information.

Further details of the requirements of the topic areas and the processes to award work are included in the tender documents.

Additional information: How to express interest in this tender:

1) Register for a free account at https://highways.bravosolution.co.uk

2) Click the 'ITTs Open To All Suppliers' link (these are invitations to tender (ITT) open to any registered supplier). Click on the relevant ITT to access the content. Click the 'Express Interest' button at the top of the page. This will move the ITT into your 'My ITTs' page (this is a secure area reserved for your projects only). You can now access any attachments by clicking 'Buyer Attachments' in the 'ITT Details' box;

3) Click 'My Response' under 'ITT Details', you can choose to 'Create Response' or to 'Decline to Respond' (please give a reason if declining). You can now use the 'Messages' function to communicate with Highways England and seek any clarification. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the ITT. There may be a mixture of online and offline actions for you to perform. You must then submit your reply using the 'Submit Response' button at the top of the page. If you require any further assistance please consult the online help, or contact the eTendering help desk.

Expressions of interest must be submitted from the applicants' registered office address. Each member of a Joint Venture (JV) must submit a letter from their own registered office confirming all company names in the proposed JV. Applicants can only participate in one JV.

This framework is enabled for the use of the following UK public sector organisations:

1) Highways England; 2) Department for Transport; 3) High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd; 4) Local highway authorities in the United Kingdom; 5) Metropolitan combined authorities in England and Wales; and 6) Transport for London.

Where an enabled organisation transfers some or all of its functions to a successor organisation, following the date of dispatch of this contract notice, that successor organisation will also become an enabled organisation.

Highways England reserves the right not to accept the highest scoring, or any, tender. Bidders should note that tenders are submitted at the supplier's own cost and risk. Highways England may cancel the competition or part of it for any reason, and bidders' costs will not be reimbursed. Highways England expressly reserves the right:

(i) not to award any contract as a result of this tendering exercise commenced by publication of this notice; and

(ii) to make whatever changes it may see fit to the content and structure of the tendering competition; and in no circumstances will Highways England be liable for any costs incurred by candidates.

Further information is provided in the procurement documents.