Turner & Townsend has nabbed a Woking regeneration scheme from rival consultant Mace after offering a “significantly” cheaper price
Woking council had used Mace for pre-construction services on the £70m project, which includes about 200 homes, community facilities and flood protection works.
But the body went back to the market, via the Buying Solutions framework, for the subsequent project management and design services contract, a move that was not compulsory under the terms of the framework.
Now Turner & Townsend is understood to have pipped Mace and fellow finalist Capita Symonds to the deal after offering a price that was about half a million pounds less than its rivals. Sources said the fee was about £3.5m.
A source close to the process said: “Turner & Townsend was significantly cheaper than the others. On a front-end regeneration scheme, that would make a big difference.”
Mark Rolt, strategic director at Woking Borough Council, stressed that quality had also played a significant role in the decision.
He said: "The evaluation process we used was part of the Buying Solutions/IESE framework and mandated that price was weighted to only contribute 30% of the evaluation score. Therefore, although price does play a part, 70% of the score is based on quality criteria."
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