Tender
Norfolk tenders bridge operation with a novation clause attached
By Staff Writer | 26 August 2026
Norfolk County Council has tendered the maintenance and operation of the two twin-leaf lifting bridges at Great Yarmouth, with a stated value of 6,720,000 pounds excluding value added tax and 8,064,000 pounds including it. The notice was published on 25 August 2026 at 4:50pm under the identifier 081005-2026 and closes at 10:00am on 28 September 2026.
There are two lots. Lot 1, maintenance of the Haven Bridge and the Herring Bridge, is valued at 2,080,000 pounds. Lot 2, operation of the Herring Bridge, is valued at 4,640,000 pounds. Operation is therefore priced at more than twice the maintenance of both structures combined, which is the first thing a bidder should notice about the package.
The council states that it is responsible for the maintenance of the Haven Bridge, and for the maintenance and operation of the Herring Bridge. The Haven Bridge is operated by Peel Ports on behalf of Great Yarmouth Port Authority, which the notice records as having a statutory obligation to operate that bridge for navigation.
Two bridges, two different responsibilities
The division matters because the council is buying operation for one bridge and maintenance for both. A lifting bridge that must open for navigation is not an asset that can be taken out of service at the maintainer's convenience, and on the Haven Bridge the party lifting it is not the party maintaining it. The notice does not set out how maintenance access on the Haven Bridge is to be co-ordinated with the operator, or who carries the consequence if a required lift cannot be made because maintenance is in progress.
On the Herring Bridge the council holds both roles and is buying both from the market, so the interface sits inside one contract if the same tenderer takes both lots and across two contracts if it does not. Nothing in the notice requires the two lots to be awarded together.
The contract may be novated to a body that does not yet exist
The larger part of the notice is given over to local government reorganisation in Norfolk, and it is drafted as a warning to bidders rather than as background. The council records that a written ministerial statement of 19 November 2025, reference HCWS1071, reported that three proposals for unitary local government in Norfolk had been received, and that these could entail the creation of one, two or three unitary councils. A consultation on those proposals ended on 11 January 2026. The notice records that the government would then assess the proposals against the criteria in the invitation and decide, subject to parliamentary approval, which if any were to be implemented, with or without modification.
It further records a written statement of 4 December 2025, reference HCWS1128, stating an intention to establish a Mayoral Strategic Authority for Norfolk and Suffolk as soon as possible, with inaugural mayoral elections in mind for May 2028.
The consequence is set out plainly. If those processes lead to unitary local government in Norfolk or to a Mayoral Strategic Authority covering it, the contract may be transferred, assigned or novated to any successor authority, to any joint body incorporating or formed by such a successor, or to a Mayoral Strategic Authority. The council, a successor or a joint body may also order services on behalf of other local authorities serving any area within Norfolk's present boundaries.
What that means for a tenderer
A bidder is being asked to price a contract whose counterparty may change during its life, to a body not yet constituted, and whose ordering base may widen beyond the buyer named on the notice. Neither risk is unusual in local government work at present, but both are stated here in advance, which puts the burden on tenderers to deal with them in their tender rather than to discover them later.
The practical questions are whether the contract sum is protected on novation, whether an expansion of the ordering base changes the volumes on which rates were built, and whether either event is a relevant change entitling the contractor to a review of rates. The notice does not answer any of them, and it names no form of contract. The procedure is an open competitive flexible procedure and the award period ends on 14 December 2026.