United Utilities has gone out to tender with an AMP8/9 contract worth an estimated £50 million for an Independent Technical Adviser for its £1.75 billion Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme.

The water company is delivering the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP) to provide long-term water supply resilience to Manchester and the Pennines. The project will utilise a Competitively Appointed Provider (CAP), which is currently being procured using Ofwat’s new Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) approach.

Under the DPC approach, the water sector regulator requires the appointment of a Consultant to protect customers in relation to the DPC project and to obtain assurance around the costs and delivery of a DPC project.

United Utilities said it views the role of the Consultant as crucial to ensure objective, independent oversight of costs that may be passed on to customers and to provide robust scrutiny and assessment of the CAP’s management of project costs and delivery.

The appointment of a Consultant is provided for in condition U11 of United Utilities' Statutory Licence.The Consultant will act as an independent party to UU, the CAP, and Ofwat, and will therefore owe a duty of care to all three parties.

Services to be provided by the Consultant under the contract include:

• the performance of the duties and roles assigned to the Consultant under the HARP Project Agreement;
• those required (of the Consultant) by or for the purposes of UU's Statutory Licence, the DPC Allowed Revenue Direction, the DPC Designation or Ofwat, including in terms of assurance and reports

Scope of the contract also covers associated services such as:

• assessment of the CAP's allowable construction costs, programmes and any claims for Project Compensation Events, throughout the construction (and defects) period;
• certifying the completion and readiness of each of the sections;
• provision of quarterly assurance reports to Ofwat and United Utilities.

The Agreement is anticipated to be in place for 11 years - however, the water company said will be in place for the time that is necessary for the Consultant to fulfil its duties until completion of the CAP construction works and any subsequent cost reconciliation.

Ofwat launched a new consultation in February this year on its proposed modifications to the conditions of appointment of five water and sewerage companies, including United Utilities, and one water only company to give effect to the delivery of large infrastructure projects under Ofwat's Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) initiative.

In April 2023 Ofwat issued its final guidance on the assessment of the technical discreteness of projects to be delivered by Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC )– the regulator expects water companies to use the updated guidance in their PR24 business plans and within RAPID schemes.

In November 2022 United Utilities took a major step in the tender process for the £1.75 billion Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP) contract by shortlisting three consortia to participate in the next stage. The water company invited the following applicants  to negotiate with United Utilities:

• HARP Community Connectors: comprising of Acciona, Dragados and Iridium
• More Water: comprising of FCC Construcción, SNC-Lavalin, FCC Aqualia, Webuild and BeMo Tunnelling
• Strabag Equitix Consortium: comprising of Equitix and Strabag

Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate is 12:00pm on 7 June 2024 – click here to access the tender documentation.