MHA+ selects partners for £960 million professional services framework

28 June 2023 Consultancy.uk

The Midlands Highway Alliance Plus (MHA+) has selected three consultancies and two staffing groups for its £960 million professional services framework.

Formed through the merger of three regional groups (the Midlands Highway Alliance, the Midlands Service Improvement Group and the West Midlands Highway Alliance), the MHA+ aims to make the delivery of highways services in the Midlands more efficient by collaborative procurement frameworks and sharing innovative best practices.

The MHA+ serves the interests of 30+ local authorities stretching from Oxfordshire in the south to Cumbria in the north.

MHA+ selects partners for £960 million professional services framework

With the framework agreement, the different local authorities can pool their requests for external support, ensuring more efficiency, enhanced relationships with suppliers, and consistency in work throughout the Midlands.

The PSP 4 framework

Now in its fourth cycle, the Professional Services Partnership Framework 4 (PSP 4) consist of two lots: Lot 1, Consultancy; and Lot 2, Temporary and Seconded Professional Staff.

Following a competitive tender process (the framework is worth around £960 million over up to eight years so interest from the market was high), three consulting firms have been selected for Lot 1: Amey Consulting, AECOM and WSP. Meanwhile,  Waterman Aspen and Matchtech Group were selected as winners for Lot 2.

Amey Consulting (the advisory arm of engineering group Amey), AECOM, Waterman Aspen and Matchtech Group were all four also part of the PSP 3 framework.

The scope of the new framework (which formally kicks off on 28 August 2023) includes all services required for the design and supervision of highway, civil and municipal engineering works, for the local authorities who actively use the framework.

Winners were selected based on a number of criteria, including price, track record, and alignment to the key principles of the framework – such as sustainability. Most of the winners provided significant focus on how their expertise and services can help the local authorities decarbonise the manner with which they deliver their highways services.

Reactions from the winners

Alex Gilbert, Managing Director at Amey Consulting, said, “We are delighted to have been appointed to the Midlands Highway Alliance PSP4. The award expands our highways design business and strengthens our relationship with MHA+ and local authorities on the Framework.”

“Amey Consulting is in a unique position to provide data-led, sustainable highways design and consulting services to the communities within the MHA+ regions. Working in collaboration with MHA+, its members and suppliers we will innovate, and deliver solutions to tackle the region’s biggest challenges, including the need to decarbonise our transport network. Our work will be proudly delivered by local teams across the four MHA+ regions.“

Manjinder Singh, Director and Head of Roads at AECOM, said that the firm has been delivering sustainable highway services via the MHA+ for the Midlands "for nearly two decades".

He added, “We are proud to be able to continue playing a part in such an important alliance for the Midlands region. We look forward to working with the MHA+ and our SME partners to develop exceptional highway services to Local Highway Authorities in the region, and to help the region achieve its carbon reduction goals.”

Other MHA+ frameworks

Earlier this week, MHA+ also announced the winners of its Medium Schemes Framework (MSF4). The framework encompasses the delivery of highway, civil and municipal engineering works, including highway improvements and maintenance, public realm works, drainage improvements, canal works and other infrastructure works such as waste management facilities.

The four to possibly eight-year framework worth £1 billion was won by Balfour Beatty, Galliford Try, John Sisk & Son and Eurovia Infrastructure.

Members of the MHA+  

Barnsley Metropolitan
Borough Council
Nottinghamshire County Council
Bedford Borough Council
Oxfordshire County Council
Buckinghamshire Council
Peterborough City Council
Coventry City Council
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Derby City Council
Rutland County Council
Derbyshire County Council
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
Shropshire Council
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
Staffordshire County Council
High Peak Borough Council
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Leicester City Council
Telford and Wrekin Council
Leicestershire County Council
Walsall Council
Lincolnshire County Council
Wolverhampton City Council
Milton Keynes Council
West Midlands Combined Authority
North Northamptonshire County Council
West Northamptonshire County Council
Nottingham City Council
Worcestershire County Council