Decision

The Director of Capital Programmes has approved the direct award of a contract to Steer Ltd via the ESPO Consultancy Services – Lot 5 for the provision of specialist economic appraisal and transport assessment expertise to support the development of the Gateway 2 submissions for the Council's Transport for City Region (Birkenhead Central Gateway and Core Active Travel Network projects), with a contract term of 6 months at an estimated contract cost of £96,225 + VAT.

Reasons for the decision

The Birkenhead Central Gateway and Core Active Travel Network are key priorities within the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s (LCRCA) Transport for City Region (TCR) £1.6bn settlement.

Funding for the Birkenhead Central Gateway and Core Active Travel Network are subject to a structured ‘Gateway’ business case process via the LCRCA. The Council secured conditional approval for both projects at the first stage in the business case process (Gateway 1) in March 2026.

Both projects now require the preparation of a robust and compliant Gateway 2 Strategic Outline Business Case to support progression through the LCRCA assurance process. The Council has identified that it does not have the capacity and expertise in-house to deliver Gateway 2 requirements.

The appointment of Steer Ltd will provide specialist economic appraisal and transport assessment expertise to support the development of the Gateway 2 submissions, including appraisal specification, review of existing transport modelling evidence, options assessment and preparation of the Gateway 2 economic cases and supporting documentation.

The Steer Ltd appointment will be via ESPO Consultancy Services – Lot 5.

The appointment of Steer Ltd will ensure that the Council has access to the specialist economic and transport assessment resources required to produce a high-quality, credible and submission-ready business case within the required programme timescales, reducing risks to programme delivery and future funding opportunities.

The cost of the Steer Ltd commission is £96,225 + VAT.

The contract cost will be fully funded via the Council’s LCRCA TCR pre-development grant award.

Alternative options considered

(1)  One option would be not to appoint external specialist support and to prepare the Gateway 2 SOBC solely using internal resources. This option has been discounted as the business case requires specialist programme, commercial and cost management expertise and dedicated coordination capacity within challenging delivery timescales.

(2)  Another option would be to procure the required services through an open competitive procurement process, however, the timescales associated with this option would impact on the LCRCA Gateway approval deadlines and project delivery.