THREE bidders have been shortlisted to provide highway maintenance and infrastructure services for East Sussex in the future.

Ringway Jacobs, Balfour Beatty Living Places and Colas have been selected to move to the next stage of the procurement process by East Sussex County Council.

The shortlist for the £730 million Highways Infrastructure Services contract follows a call for expressions of interest which went through a rigorous evaluation process.

The selected bidders have now been invited to submit detailed tenders about how they would deliver highway maintenance, improvement schemes and a range of other highways services across East Sussex.

The new contract will replace the council’s current £300m seven-year contract with Costain and Jacobs (previously CH2M), signed in May 2016 and due to expire in May 2023, when East Sussex outsourced a number of its highway service functions.

The contract is likely to run for a maximum of 14 years – with an initial seven-year term and the option to extend for an additional seven-year period subject to satisfactory performance.

The deadline for receipt of the detailed tenders is March 2022, with the announcement of the preferred tenderer to be made in September 2022.