Four major construction firms are bidding to carry out the essential maintenance and improvements at Guernsey Airport.

Work on the project, which was approved in 2009 with a budget of £81 million, is expected to begin in 2011 and will take around two years to complete.

It involves the reconstruction of the runway and other hard surfaces, and the replacement or refurbishment of the drainage system, airfield lighting and other key operational systems.

The current airfield boundary will also be extended to the west to provide longer grass runway end safety areas (RESAs). These are designed to protect passengers and aircraft in the event of an 'overshoot' or 'undershoot'.


Public Services Minister Deputy Bernard Flouquet said the Department was pleased with the

number of tenders received.

The firms vying for the contract are Lagan Construction, BAM Nuttall, VolkerFitzpatrick, and

Trant. They all have specific experience of airfield construction projects.

"We carried out a selection process in 2009 which enabled us to shortlist companies with the

best credentials and experience to carry out this work. Of the five companies who we invited to tender, all but one has continued to be involved right through to the tender stage," he said.

"This is a very complex construction project, and it is therefore essential that we appoint a

contractor with the relevant expertise. At the same time having such a good response to the

invitation to tender will help ensure the works are competitively priced."

All the tenders will now be assessed during the two month evaluation phase, and scored

according to previously agreed criteria. These include safety, quality of submission, price and previous experience.

Up to two firms will then be selected in December to go into a three-month 'value engineering' phase. This will be an opportunity for Public Services to investigate with them potential cost and time savings through the scheduling of the work and detailed planning of how it will be carried out.

(CD/GK)