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LTC Co Regulatory & Economic Advice / Transition Support

National Highways

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

30 Sep 2026 at 10:34

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Award

30 Sep 2026 at 10:31

UK5 - Transparency Notice
Summary of the contracting process

National Highways Limited procured specialist regulatory and economic advice and transition support for the Lower Thames Crossing programme. The adviser is to support the Programme Director with planning and delivering arrangements for transferring the project to the private sector, focusing on risk management and regulation. This is a business and management consultancy service, rather than construction or engineering delivery. The requirement concerns the Lower Thames Crossing project; no more specific delivery location is identified. The advice is intended to help enable the transfer and support successful delivery of the programme.

The procurement is complete and has been awarded to Indepen Limited. The award was made on 16 September 2026, with a contract period from 12 October 2026 to 31 July 2028. The award is valued at £310,000 excluding VAT (£372,000 including VAT). The process used a direct award, justified by the incumbent advisers’ detailed knowledge of the regulatory framework, risks and stakeholders, and the need to avoid knowledge loss, onboarding costs, duplication, delay and inconsistent advice. There was one lot, marked as suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. No scored evaluation criteria are stated.

This award shows that National Highways uses external consultancy for specialist regulatory and economic advice on the Lower Thames Crossing, including support for risk management and a complex transition to private-sector delivery. A credible competitor for a future requirement would need demonstrable expertise in regulation and economics relevant to major infrastructure programmes, alongside strong programme and risk-management capability. Experience of advising senior programme leadership, understanding stakeholder expectations, and planning transitions without disrupting delivery would be particularly relevant. The buyer’s rationale for retaining its existing adviser highlights the commercial importance of established project knowledge, continuity of advice and consistent outputs. Smaller consultancies can be suitable for this type of work, but would need to show they can provide the necessary specialist capacity and quickly build or retain deep project understanding.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

LTC Co Regulatory & Economic Advice / Transition Support

Notice Description

To provide specialist advice and support to the Programme Director in the planning and delivery of transition arrangements around risk management / regulation to enable successful delivery of the private sector transfer of Lower Thames Crossing .

Procurement Information

Retaining the existing regulatory advisors, on the project provides clear commercial, programme, and risk management benefits: The current advisors have developed a detailed understanding of the project's regulatory framework, key risks, and stakeholder expectations. Replacing them would result in a loss of knowledge, requiring significant time and cost to onboard new advisors. Introducing new advisors at this stage would create avoidable delays while they familiarise themselves with the project, potentially impacting critical milestones. Maintaining the existing team supports continuity and protects the programme timeline. Transitioning to new advisors would incur duplication of work, additional onboarding costs, and inefficiencies during the handover period. Retention avoids these unnecessary expenditures. Changing advisors risks inconsistency in outputs and could undermine prior work or require revalidation.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-077d35
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/092212-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Tender Suitability
SME
Awardee Scale
SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

CPV Codes

79410000 - Business and management consultancy services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
£310,000 £100K-£500K
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
30 Sep 20266 days ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
16 Sep 20263 weeks ago
Contract Period
12 Oct 2026 - 31 Jul 2028 1-2 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
National Highways
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
BIRMINGHAM
Postcode
B4 6GA
Postcode Area
Birmingham
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLG West Midlands (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLG3 West Midlands
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLG31 Birmingham
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Birmingham
Electoral Ward
Ladywood
Westminster Constituency
Birmingham Ladywood

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

Indepen Limited

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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