Contract award
Surface dressing framework reissued after a supplier withdraws two tenders
By Staff Writer | 03-09-2026
The Department for Infrastructure's roads directorate in Northern Ireland has republished a surface dressing framework award, replacing a notice issued earlier this year after a supplier withdrew its tenders for two of the seven lots. The framework carries a cumulative value of 80,000,000 pounds excluding value added tax over four years. The replacement notice was published at 11:49am on 3 September 2026.
The notice states its own purpose in terms:
The replacement notice is required due the withdrawal of a supplier's tenders for Lot 6 and Lot 7 following the publication of the original notice. The purpose of this notice is to ensure that the published contract award information accurately reflects the revised outcome of the procurement process for the Framework.
Department for Infrastructure, contract award notice
A published award outcome changed after publication because a tenderer pulled out. The correction route taken was a fresh notice replacing the first, not an amendment to it.
What the notice records, and what it does not
Five suppliers appear on the framework: FP McCann Limited, I.C.B. Emulsions Limited, John McQuillan (Contracts) Limited, Kiely Bros. Limited and Patrick Keenan Quarries. They do not all appear on every lot. Lots 1 to 4 carry all five. Lot 5 carries four, without I.C.B. Emulsions Limited. Lots 6 and 7 carry three, being FP McCann Limited, John McQuillan (Contracts) Limited and Kiely Bros. Limited.
The notice does not identify the supplier whose tenders were withdrawn. It records only that the withdrawal affected Lot 6 and Lot 7 and that it followed publication of the original notice. The lot membership set out above is what the replacement notice publishes. It is not evidence of who withdrew, and no supplier is named here as having done so.
The tender counts move with the membership. Lots 1 to 4 each record five tenders received and five assessed at the final stage, three of them from small or medium sized enterprises. Lot 5 records four and four, Lots 6 and 7 three and three. No lot records an unsuccessful supplier.
Two values, and they are not the same thing
The cumulative value of the framework over its four year term is 80,000,000 pounds excluding value added tax. If the department cannot award a replacement framework when this one ends, call off contracts may be extended by up to twelve months, which the notice says may increase the cumulative value to 100,000,000 pounds.
The contract values published against each lot are the extended figures rather than the four year ones. Lot 1 is published at 22,500,000 pounds against a four year value of 18,000,000 pounds. Lot 2 is 21,250,000 against 17,000,000. Lots 3 and 4 are each 15,000,000 against 12,000,000. Lot 5 is 11,250,000 against 9,000,000. Lot 6 is 10,000,000 against 8,000,000. Lot 7 is 5,000,000 against 4,000,000. The seven four year figures total 80,000,000 pounds and the seven extended figures total 100,000,000 pounds.
Anyone quoting a lot value from this notice should say which of the two it is. The notice also records that lot values may be shared with other lots, so a lot figure is not a ring fence either.
The work, the form and the dates
Each lot is a measured term contract for surface dressing in a named area, with individual works orders valued up to 750,000 pounds excluding value added tax. The activities are the application of surface dressing, associated road markings, the delivery of temporary traffic management as part of associated civils works on live trafficked public roads, and other associated ancillary works. The seven areas are Newry, Mourne and Down with Ards and North Down; Derry and Strabane with Fermanagh and Omagh; Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon; Mid Ulster; Causeway Coast and Glens; Mid and East Antrim with Antrim and Newtownabbey; and Belfast with Lisburn and Castlereagh.
Traffic management on live trafficked roads sits inside the works order rather than beside it, so the contractor prices the closure and the safety regime as part of the rate rather than receiving them from the authority.
The award decision was taken on 1 September 2026 and assessment summaries went to tenderers on 2 September 2026. The standstill period ends on 14 September 2026 and is recorded as eight working days. The earliest date a contract will be signed is 16 October 2026. The estimated contract period runs from 1 September 2027 to 31 August 2031, with a possible extension to 31 August 2032, so close to a year separates the earliest signature date from the estimated start of the term.
The notice records the extension route as section 74 of the Procurement Act 2023, which governs the modification of a public contract, and records the procedure as open under section 20(1) and (2)(a) of the same Act.