Road Management Services (RMS) was looking for a contractor to undertake the design and build of the replacement A13 Lodge Avenue Flyover, including the demolition of the existing flyover
The opportunity
The A13 Lodge Avenue Flyover is a road infrastructure element that forms part of the major road connecting Central London to the east of the city and extending further into Essex. Managed by Transport for London (TfL), the flyover is currently operated and maintained by RMS under the 30-year A13 design, build, finance and operate (DBFO) contract, which was awarded in 2000. Under the terms of the contract, RMS has an obligation to replace Lodge Avenue flyover. This bid included a two-stage procurement process: stage 1 – design and consents and stage 2 – demolition, construction and commissioning. The contract was a NEC4 Option A (Fixed Price) with a 140-week timeline.
Tender competition was fierce; therefore, it was vital we demonstrated our client was reliable, sustainable and affordable. We also placed emphasis on stakeholder management, including how our client would mitigate impact on the local community and manage traffic during the build.
EiB approach and involvement
We started the end-to-end bid process before the release of the tender documents. During this period, we crafted our client’s strategy, assessing its previous success factors, tailoring these to the A13 Lodge Avenue Flyover project and ensuring it had the evidence needed to support the submission.
Upon the release of the bid documents, our bid manager facilitated a kick-off meeting with the bid team. Discussion items included innovative solutions, stakeholder mapping and win themes. Our bid writers conducted storyboard sessions, working with our client’s subject matter experts to agree the content for each response prior to writing. We also produced CVs with key personnel to support the submission.
We focused on developing a strong relationship and providing constructive challenge to support continual improvement of the bid submission. This included having weekly MS Teams calls with all involved to track progress of responses and ensure we had the right information and evidence from the subject matter experts to develop an excellent submission.
Success and outcomes
Our team was efficient in collaborating with the client’s bid director and bid manager to ensure consistency and quality throughout the bid life cycle. The team members were also effective in supporting each other to manage the complexity of the work, producing quick turnaround, which enabled us to keep to tight deadlines.
This bid was successful with our client awarded the contract to oversee the design and build of the new A13 flyover. This win strengthens our working relationship with the client and led to it contracting our writers to a retention scheme.