Nottingham City Council has published a tender to establish a framework for planned carriageway maintenance works within the Council’s boundaries. The Council is seeking suitably experienced and qualified contractors to deliver programmes of highways maintenance that improve network condition, reduce defects, and support safer journeys across the city.
The framework is planned to run for four years, and the Council expects to appoint up to three contractors, subject to suitability. For civil engineering and highways maintenance suppliers, this is a focused local authority opportunity with clear timescales and a strong emphasis on commercial competitiveness, backed up by deliverability and quality.
Key facts at a glance
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Contracting authority: Nottingham City Council
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Scope: planned carriageway maintenance works within Nottingham
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Estimated value: £30,000,000 including VAT (£25,000,000 excluding VAT)
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Estimated contract dates: 11 May 2026 to 10 May 2030
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Submission deadline: 16 April 2026, 12:00pm
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Award decision (estimated): 6 May 2026
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Procedure: Open procedure
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Portal: EastMidsTenders
The framework can be used by the establishing party only, and call-offs may be awarded with or without competition, depending on the Council’s approach for individual requirements.
How the evaluation is weighted
The Find a Tender notice sets out an award split of:
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Price: 60%
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Quality: 35%
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Social value: 5%
This tells you how to prioritise your time. Pricing will be decisive, but a weak delivery approach can still lose the bid. Social value is a smaller percentage, but in close competitions it can still be the difference, especially where commitments are specific to Nottingham and easy to evidence.
What bidders should focus on when preparing their submission
1) Commercial model and pricing credibility
With price at 60%, you need a pricing approach that is competitive and stable across the likely mix of planned maintenance activities. Review labour assumptions, surfacing materials, traffic management, waste disposal, and plant utilisation. Pricing that looks low but relies on fragile assumptions can create risk later, and it can also raise evaluator questions if it appears unrealistic.
2) Delivery planning that reduces disruption
Planned carriageway works sit in live network conditions. A high-scoring quality response normally shows strong planning controls, including works programming, stakeholder coordination, and an approach to traffic management that balances safety, access and network impact. Make it easy for evaluators to see how you will reduce repeat visits, avoid overruns, and keep sites compliant and tidy.
3) Quality assurance and right-first-time repairs
Quality is 35%, so your method statements should show how you will control workmanship and materials, manage inspections and testing, and capture learning to prevent recurring defects. Where you have demonstrable performance metrics, include them. For example, reduction in defects, rework rates, or improved programme completion against plan.
4) Supply chain resilience and materials availability
Carriageway maintenance is vulnerable to supply constraints and lead time variability. Address how you will manage surfacing supply, aggregates, bitumen-related products and specialist subcontractors. Evaluators want confidence that you can deliver planned programmes reliably across seasons and peak demand periods.
5) Social value that fits the contract and the city
At 5% it is tempting to keep social value generic, but it is often easy to score well with a small set of well-chosen commitments. Focus on local employment and skills, meaningful supply chain opportunities for local SMEs, and practical community benefits that align with highways works. Clear measurement is key, so describe how you will track, evidence and report delivery.
If you want a wider view of what tends to score in highways bids, Thornton & Lowe’s support for highways and civil engineering tenders can help you shape method statements and evidence around what evaluators typically look for in maintenance frameworks.
Framework support from Thornton & Lowe
Framework tenders are often won on structure and clarity. If you are bidding for this opportunity, Thornton & Lowe can support with bid planning, drafting and review so your submission stays focused on the scoring split and the Council’s risk priorities.
Where social value is competitive, we also support suppliers to build clear, measurable commitments through our social value bid writing services.
