Balfour Beatty Living Spaces was announced as preferred bidder by the council last December.

But the contract race was re-opened after Balfour said there were “some outstanding issues which we have not been able to resolve with the council.”

Balfour has now lost out on the deal which could be worth up to £500m with the possibility of an extension to ten years.

The MGWSP award is subject to approval by the County Council’s Cabinet next week and the contract is scheduled to start on October 1.

The deal covers the design and delivery of maintenance and improvement works across Suffolk’s 6,500km highways network.

This includes surfacing, winter gritting, emergency response to incidents on the network, street lighting and traffic signals maintenance, materials testing, road condition surveys, laboratory services, the maintenance of the council’s vehicle fleet, and bridge works.

Margaret Ford, Chairman of May Gurney, said: “We are delighted that May Gurney/MGWSP has been chosen as preferred bidder by Suffolk County Council for the highways services contract, which consolidates our position as a leading provider of essential front-line services to more than 80 local authorities across the UK.

“May Gurney already has a significant presence in East Anglia – the Company was founded in Norfolk in 1926.

“This unique heritage and extensive operational footprint, combined with MGWSP’s proven track record of delivering fresh ideas and better ways of working for our other clients, means that we are ideally placed to deliver on Suffolk’s twin goals of cost reduction and quality service delivery.

“At the same time, we’re very much looking forward to working with the council to increase our contribution to the local economy through creating new apprenticeships, extending our use of local suppliers and developing a solid skills-base to ensure a successful future for the region.”

Duncan Symonds, Head of Infrastructure of WSP, said “This announcement is extremely welcome and adds to the strength and depth of the MGWSP partnership, which has already been proven successful through five years with Northamptonshire County Council.

“WSP itself is renowned for its work in the highways sector, having worked on both national and local projects across the UK.

“We are looking forward to using this experience to deliver Suffolk County Council’s highway maintenance and improvement works project both effectively and efficiently.”