Councillors in Cambridgeshire were expected to approve the award of a £250M contract for the design and delivery of highway maintenance and large road schemes to Atkins this week. Subject to the scrutiny committee’s review, the cabinet’s preferred bidder will clinch a 10-year deal and its third integrated highways contract with an English county. Atkins, which currently provides the county’s engineering services, will take over Ringway’s term maintenance role in September. This follows a row over alleged poaching of the contractor’s staff ahead of the formal contract award. Atkins was forced to apologise for telephone calls inviting its rival’s employees to a recruitment conference. The approaches were made as part of a national recruitment drive and not a deliberate bid to pre-empt the TUPE process, said council director of highways, ~Mark Kemp~ Talks between the two companies ‘had cleared the air’. The scrutiny committee wanted to be clear on the new contractual processes and tender evaluation, Kemp stressed. Atkins emerged top in a 60/40 quality/price assessment, beating bids from Accord, Ringway/Babtie and MacAlpine/Scott Wilson. The contract covers all highway works up to £0.5M. Major schemes up to £30M are provided under a separate design-and-build framework. There would be early contractor involvement, co-location, and single branding under the Cambridgeshire Highway Services banner, said Chris Capps, council head of transport asset management. The contract also marks a move to outcome specifications for routine maintenance and target costing for all work, including design. Cambridgeshire which co-hosted industry days with Gloucestershire Wiltshire and Kent county councils, intends to benchmark costs and key performance indicators ahead of contract reviews in years five and seven.