What happened

National Highways issued the invitation to tender for its Maintenance and Response 2 (M&R2) framework on 24 August, Construction Enquirer reported. The deal will overhaul how England's 4,500 miles of motorways and major A-roads are kept running.

The current set-up of 10 area maintenance contracts is being replaced by seven larger regional lots, each awarded to a single contractor as the existing deals expire from July 2028. The seven packages add up to around £6.1bn, with National Highways building in headroom for inflation, contingency and resilience that takes the overall framework ceiling to just under £8bn. Work covers cyclical and reactive maintenance, incident response, winter service, roadside technology, and renewals such as road markings, lighting, signs, barriers and fencing.

Bids are due by 26 October, with contracts due to run from January 2028 through to July 2037, one of the longest procurement horizons the highways sector has seen. Current area contractors include Amey, Colas, Costain, Kier and Ringway, and firms bidding for more than one region will have to rank their preferred lots.

Why it matters

Going from 10 contracts to seven means some incumbents will lose ground even as the total pot grows. National Highways is trading a patchwork of shorter, smaller deals for fewer, bigger ones with nine and a half years of certainty attached, a rare thing in a construction market where output has been shrinking for the best part of two years. That length gives winning contractors room to invest in plant, training and local supply chains rather than treating a maintenance contract as a short-term hold.

It also concentrates risk. A contractor that misses out on all seven lots loses a significant, recurring revenue stream overnight, and its highways teams become available to whoever does win.

What it means for your career

Between now and 26 October, bid teams at every current area contractor will be under pressure: commercial managers, estimators and highways engineers building the case for each of the seven lots. If you have NEC contract experience and a highways maintenance background, this is a good window to make sure your CV reflects it.

Once lots are awarded, expect a mobilisation wave through 2027 into January 2028, term maintenance engineers, traffic management supervisors, asset engineers and commercial staff moving across as work transfers between incumbents and new entrants. Because the framework covers the whole strategic road network rather than one corridor, the opportunities are genuinely national, not concentrated in the South East. If your current employer doesn't hold a lot after November's awards, start conversations early with the firms that do. Highways maintenance experience travels well between contractors, and the winners will be resourcing delivery teams for most of 2027.