Smart motorways procurement plan
On 1 February 2018, ICE announced their involvement in helping Highways England explain how its proposed new commercial procurement model for smart motorways could work.
Highways England is developing a new procurement model to deliver the Smart Motorways Programme (SMP). This falls under the wider Routes to Market programme for procurement.
Working with the Department for Transport, Highways England operates, maintains and improves motorways and major A-roads. Its work supports economic growth by connecting people and businesses across England while making the network safer for those using and working on them.
The new SMP procurement model proposes new ways of working between the agency and its supply chain, drawing on an incentive-driven commercial model. The aim is to secure a sustainable supply chain by developing close, more collaborative and longer lasting relationships with suppliers – helping to deliver 'whole-life' value to their contracts.
Highways England is running workshops, information sessions about the new procurement model and asking for feedback.
ICE, alongside the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA), is working with the agency to coordinate workshops examining the new procurement models in further detail.
To register your interest in participating in the engagement exercise, please send an email to highwaysengland.co.uk RTMYourQuestions@highwaysengland.co.uk with the following information by 5pm on 8 February 2018 (registrations of interest cannot be received after this date):
- Organisation name, website and key contact details.
- Organisation size/turnover.
- Industry/sector specialism.
- Areas of experience/expertise.
Please note that Highways England will supply further information about the proposed model, as well as information on the different engagement methods, by mid-February 2018 to those who have registered an interest.
This article was originally published here on 1 Feb 2018 by ICE. It was written by Simon Barney.
--The Institution of Civil Engineers
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
- Articles by ICE on Designing Buildings Wiki.
- Digital Roads 2025.
- Highways England.
- How to connect unconnected vehicles.
- Rapid Engineering Model REM.
- Road traffic management.
- Smart construction.
- Smart motorway.
- Smart technology.
- Types of road and street.
- Vision and validate: a third way in designing the roads of the future.
- What are smart motorways and how do they work?
Featured articles and news
The 2026 Compliance Landscape: Fire doors
Why 'Business as Usual' is a Liability.
Cutting construction carbon footprint by caring for soil
Is construction neglecting one of the planet’s most powerful carbon stores and one of our greatest natural climate allies.
ARCHITECTURE: How's it progressing?
Archiblogger posing questions of a historical and contextual nature.
The roofscape of Hampstead Garden Suburb
Residents, architects and roofers need to understand detailing.
Homes, landlords. tenants and the new housing standards
What will it all mean?
The Architectural Technology podcast: Where it's AT
Catch-up on the latest episodes.
Edmundson Apprentice of the Year award 2026
Entries now open for this Electrical Contractors' Association award.
Traditional blue-grey slate from one of the oldest and largest UK slate quarries down in Cornwall.
There are plenty of sources with the potential to be redeveloped.
Change of use legislation breaths new life into buildings
A run down on Class MA of the General Permitted Development Order.
Solar generation in the historic environment
Success requires understanding each site in detail.
Level 6 Design, Construction and Management BSc
CIOB launches first-ever degree programme to develop the next generation of construction leaders.
Open for business as of April, with its 2026 prospectus and new pipeline of housing schemes.
The operational value of workforce health
Keeping projects moving. Incorporating unplanned absence and the importance of health, in operations.
A carbon case for indigenous slate
UK slate can offer clear embodied carbon advantages.
Costs and insolvencies mount for SMEs, despite growth
Construction sector under insolvency and wage bill pressure in part linked to National Insurance, says report.






















