Founds Group has successfully led alongside West Berkshire Council in shaping and procuring its new £150 million highways contract, helping create a future-focused model built around resilience, innovation, sustainability and social value. The new West Berkshire Highways Term Maintenance Contract is valued at £150 million and will begin on 1 October 2026. It runs for an initial seven-year term, with the option to extend for a further three years. The contract also has the ability to be scaled by a further £150m to support future LGR options for the region.
A major contract for West Berkshire
This is a significant long-term contract for the Council. It will support the maintenance and improvement of roads, footways, drainage, street lighting and wider highway assets across West Berkshire. It also covers winter service, reactive works, capital schemes, active travel and highways asset management.
The contract has been designed to do more than maintain the network. It is intended to support safer journeys, stronger service resilience and a better overall experience for residents, businesses and visitors – using more and new data to make better informed decisions.
Shaping the programme from the outset
Founds Group supported West Berkshire Council throughout the development of the procurement. Working as part of the core project team, we helped shape the procurement strategy, guide market engagement and define the contract model. That work aligned the contract with the council’s wider priorities around being customer focused; supporting its Green DfT RAG rating around road condition; Net Zero and long-term value.
Early supplier engagement was a key part of that process. It helped test market appetite, explore delivery models and challenge how a modern highways contract should operate in practice. This gave the council a stronger foundation before the formal tender process began.
“This contract is about more than maintenance. It creates a platform for a smarter, more collaborative and more sustainable highways service across West Berkshire.”
A stronger model for delivery
The procurement approach was built to test more than price. It gave the council room to examine how bidders would deliver from day one, how they would work with the client team and how efficiency and innovation could be translated into real service improvement.
The outcome is a contract that supports operational certainty while creating space for improvement over time. Marlborough Highways will deliver the new services across the region, bringing a delivery model focused on responsiveness, customer outcomes and long-term performance, using new materials, changed policies and a strong asset management system.
Pioneering Procurement with Efficiency and Innovation Cards
A defining feature of the procurement was the use of Efficiency and Innovation Cards. This is a UK first for a Highway Maintenance contract under the new Public Contract Regulations 2024. These were introduced as a practical tool to move the process beyond standard quality statements and a commercial model, to giving bidders a clear route to propose efficiency improvements, service innovation and new ways of working during the tender itself.
Rather than relying on generic commitments, the cards created a structured way for bidders to set out ideas that could be reviewed, challenged and tested as part of the procurement process within the Regulations. This allowed West Berkshire Council to involve both officers and members in considering whether proposed changes were acceptable, deliverable and capable of being embedded into the contract from day one.
That changed the role of innovation within the procurement. Instead of being treated as something promised after award, improvements could be examined in detail during the tender process itself. This gave the council greater confidence in what could genuinely be delivered and created a much clearer link between evaluation and long-term service outcomes.
The approach also supported a stronger commercial model. Innovations were considered in a way that allowed efficiencies and new delivery methods to be built into the contract, rather than left as broad aspirations in quality responses. The approach is expected to help unlock over £4 million of savings across the first two years of the contract, alongside more than £65 million of social and economic value across seven years.
For Founds Group, the Efficiency and Innovation Cards reflect the wider philosophy behind our approach as a business in supporting Local Authorities, and this programme: procurement should be evidence-led, commercially robust and focused on real operational improvement. They helped turn innovation from a headline claim into something that could be assessed properly and translated into delivery.
Innovation translated into delivery
Innovation is one of the strongest features of the new arrangement. The contract includes improved grey water drainage waste management, and a stronger method for permanent pothole repair using approved cold-lay materials with a right-first-time fix. It also introduces a more holistic fence-to-fence approach, helping teams complete more work while on site and reducing unnecessary return visits.
The model also supports earlier capital programme certainty. That allows works to be planned more effectively and gives the supply chain better visibility, driving down buying prices, creating more certainty and creating consistency in quality. In practice, this can improve resource planning, strengthen mobilisation and help unlock further efficiencies across the life of the contract.
The council’s wider service ambitions point in the same direction. The new contract is intended to support more durable pothole repairs, smarter programming and fewer repeat visits through better coordination on site. Together, those changes we believe, should help create a more efficient service and a stronger customer experience.
Smarter use of data and technology
Technology and data will play an important role in how the service develops. The contract includes tools such as Vaisala RoadAI to improve asset condition and location data, and Exactrak to support winter route optimisation. These technologies whilst not necessarily new to the industry per-say, if used in combination with wider initiatives will help support better decision-making and a more proactive approach to network management.
That matters because modern highways services depend on stronger evidence being used to deliver the right solutions. Better data can support better maintenance choices, clearer performance reporting and more effective use of funding over time.
Social value with local impact
The contract delivers around £68 million in social value commitments across its term. This includes £7 million for local skills and employment, £52 million to support responsible regional business growth, £9.5 million for decarbonisation and environmental improvement, and £60,000 for social innovation.
These commitments are designed to create visible local benefit. They include targeted support for local suppliers, Meet-the-Buyer activity, community programmes and structured monitoring of delivery. The contract also introduces Parish Watch gang, giving town and parish councils a more direct route to access maintenance services and raise local issues.
The broader social value offer is one of the reasons the contract stands out. Alongside direct community benefit, it creates opportunities for local businesses, supports skills development and strengthens the connection between highways delivery and wider place-based outcomes.
Sustainability from day one
Sustainability runs through the contract model. The service will be carbon-neutral from day one and includes greener fleet operations, more efficient material use, local sourcing, reuse and recycling, and more environmentally sensitive maintenance practices.
The environmental measures within the contract are expected to save around 525 tonnes of CO2 over seven years. They also support wider waste reduction and embed sustainable procurement expectations across the supply chain.
Looking ahead
For Founds Group, this programme is a strong example of what effective procurement can achieve. By combining market insight, technical highways knowledge and delivery-focused evaluation, we helped support a contract that balances affordability, innovation and long-term public value.
With the contract now moving into mobilisation, our work continues. We will remain closely involved with West Berkshire Council and Marlborough Highways as the new service takes shape, supporting mobilisation, training through the Founds Academy and the adoption of new processes, technologies and ways of working.
That ongoing role reflects the wider value Founds Group brings to complex programmes: not only helping shape strong procurements but also helping clients and delivery partners embed change successfully. Through our advisory support, programme assurance and Founds Academy, we help organisations build confidence, strengthen capability and translate contract ambition into live service delivery, with real tangible results.
We are proud to be continuing this journey with the Council and Marlborough Highways, helping ensure the contract delivers its long-term outcomes as designed to achieve.
To find out how we can help you, please feel free to reach out.
