[ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
The Competition and Markets Authority said fragmented buying, short-term funding and inconsistent procurement are weakening contractor confidence and stopping firms from investing in people, plant and innovation.<\/p>\n
Its final Civil Engineering Market Study<\/a> said public bodies spent around \u00a319bn on roads and rail infrastructure in 2023\/24, excluding HS2.<\/p>\n But the CMA warned that the public sector is failing to use that buying power properly, with costs high, overruns common, quality variable and innovation limited.<\/p>\n The watchdog said the prize from reform could be huge, with possible efficiency savings of up to \u00a35bn a year if government gets a grip on the market.<\/p>\n Central to the report is a call for HM Treasury to take strategic ownership of reform across the sector.<\/p>\n The CMA said Treasury should drive system-wide change because responsibility for road and rail work is currently split across a maze of government departments, devolved administrations, national bodies and local authorities.<\/p>\n It wants that backed by a new road and rail civil engineering sector plan setting out clear objectives, annual progress reports and a framework for using procurement and regulation to shape the market.<\/p>\n The watchdog said short-term funding and shifting government priorities are forcing authorities into lower-risk, short-term schemes rather than long-term programmes.<\/p>\n It warned that stop-start pipelines are also making contractors wary of investing in skills, capacity and new technology.<\/p>\n The CMA is now urging ministers and devolved governments to give procuring authorities credible multi-year capital budgets of at least three years.<\/p>\n It said that would give clients more stable funding and procurement plans, while giving contractors the confidence to invest ahead of future workloads.<\/p>\n The report also calls for longer-term contracts, a UK-wide infrastructure pipeline and more detail on whether projects have funding, planning approval, procurement dates and intended buying routes.<\/p>\n Procurement practice also comes in for heavy criticism.<\/p>\n The CMA said weak scoping, poor early engagement and over-prescriptive designs are driving up bid costs, deterring bidders and increasing the risk of changes during delivery.<\/p>\n It wants compliance with the Construction Playbook to be made mandatory for national procuring authorities, ending the current \u201ccomply or explain\u201d approach.<\/p>\n The watchdog also calls for wider use of standard designs for repeat road and rail structures such as bridges and gantries.<\/p>\n It said standardisation would cut costs, reduce delivery risk and support greater use of industrialised construction methods.<\/p>\n Other recommendations include more joint procurement by councils and Network Rail regions, a review of bespoke Z clauses in contracts, a single approved list of supplier accreditations, faster approval routes for new technologies and standard response times for utility diversions.<\/p>\n The CMA said the full package should be delivered as soon as possible to cut costs, reduce delays, increase innovation and help smaller firms scale up.<\/p>\n A government response is now expected within 90 days to set out how far ministers will go in adopting the recommendations.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n