Bids are due back by May 17 and Alan Griffiths, BAM Nuttall, Cemex, Dawnus, ERH, Lafarge and Tarmac Western are among the firms believed to be pursuing a place on the framework for the South West Wales Trunk Road Agency (SWWTRA)

The SWWTRA has been evolving and upgrading its trunk road management and maintenance operations since the original contract was put in place in 2006 and the new deal sees dramatic changes.

The old four-year deal that is about to end covered highways and structures with work shared among half a dozen contractors – Alun Griffiths, Carillion, Cemex, Siemens, Southern Electrical and Tarmac.

The SWWTRA is dumping that old arrangement and going for a new civils contract combining both highways and structures work with operations split across three regions.

The new deal is aimed at generating greater economies of scale but will halve the number of contractors in the SWWTRA’s supply chain as only one firm will be responsible for work in each of the three regions.

The SWWTRA has divided the work up into lots and Lot 1 covers the eastern area of the agency’s remit up to but not including junction 32 of the M4 Junction up to the second Severn crossing. This region also includes the M48, A449, A4042, A466, A48M and in part the A40 and A465.

The second lot covers the SWWTRA’s central region and includes junction 32 of the M4 across to junction 49 of the M4 plus the A4060, the A465 from junction 43 of the M4 to the junction with A4060, and also the A470 from junction 32 of the M4 to the interchange with the A465.

The third lot covers the western area up to and including junction 49 of the M4 into Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire and includes the A483, A48, A4076, A487 and A477.