Contract award
Six consultancies named on north and mid Wales roads framework
By Staff Writer | 30-08-2026
Cyngor Gwynedd, procuring for the North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agent, has named six consultancies across the three lots of its Consultancy Professional Services Framework Contract 2026. The notice, identifier 082154-2026, was published on the United Kingdom tender service at 12:34 on 28 August 2026, with an award date of the same day.
The six are Amey OW Limited, AtkinsRealis UK Limited, Mott MacDonald Limited, WSP UK Limited, Arcadis Consulting (UK) Limited and Ove Arup and Partners Limited. Four firms sit on each lot.
The notice records a value of 16,000,000 pounds excluding value added tax against each of the three lots, and 19,200,000 pounds including it. No combined framework figure is published, and none is reported here.
The three lots
Lot 1 is multi-disciplinary consultancy professional services for estimates under 50,000 pounds. Lot 2 is the same service for estimates over 50,000 pounds. Lot 3 is major consultancy professional services projects.
Amey OW, AtkinsRealis, Mott MacDonald and WSP hold lots 1 and 2. Lot 3 goes to a different combination: AtkinsRealis, Arcadis, WSP and Ove Arup and Partners. Two firms therefore sit across all three lots, two are confined to the smaller and mid sized work, and two appear only on the major projects lot. That split is the buyer's answer to a familiar problem on a trunk road agency framework, which is that the team that can turn round a small safety scheme in weeks is not always the team that can carry a major structures or corridor project.
Nine, ten and seven bids
Bid numbers are recorded lot by lot. Lot 1 drew nine bids, all nine of which reached the final stage. Lot 2 drew ten, all ten of which reached the final stage. Lot 3 drew seven, all seven reaching the final stage. No bid was excluded before the final stage on any lot, which suggests the pre-qualification requirements did not filter the field.
Only one small or medium sized enterprise reached the final stage on lot 1, and only one on lot 2. None reached it on lot 3. No voluntary, community or social enterprise bid at final stage on any lot. Every named winner is recorded on the notice as a large enterprise. For a Welsh authority buying design and engineering advice for its own trunk road network, that is a result worth noting: the smaller work under 50,000 pounds attracted a single SME finalist and did not award to one.
Two years, extendable to four
The contract period runs from 10 September 2026 to 30 August 2028, with a maximum extent recorded as 30 August 2030. The awards are recorded on the notice as pending rather than active, which is the standstill position at the point of publication.
The requirement is classified as engineering services. Delivery covers the Welsh regions recorded on the notice, spanning the north and the mid Wales areas the agent serves. The buyer used an open procedure and the arrangement is a framework agreement under the Procurement Act 2023, with Welsh devolved regulations applying.
Cyngor Gwynedd is the host authority for the agent, and the notice gives the buyer's address as the council offices in Caernarfon with a dedicated agent contact address. The practical effect of the award is that the design and advisory capacity for the trunk road network across north and mid Wales for the next two years, and possibly four, now sits with six firms, and that a call off on the major projects lot can only go to one of four.