By rosebell
According to an announcement on Doffin, the Norwegian database for public procurement notices, the design-build contract for the Stad ship tunnel is out to tender and the concluded contract is due to be based on NS 8407, a standard contract for design-build projects in Norway.
As the world’s first full-scale tunnel for ships, this tunnel with 1.7km length, 50m hight and 36m width will provide a safe passage through the Stadhavet Sea in Norway.
While the date od starting its evaluation was the 1990s, it received the green light from the Norwegian Parliament in 2021 and the Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) (Kystverket) was given responsibility for the project.
“Since we were assigned the task of building the Stad ship tunnel in the spring of 2021, we have worked diligently on preparatory efforts leading up to the tender announcement. A tunnel like this has never been built before, making the technical documentation quite demanding. Additionally, the planning processes, land acquisitions, reuse of stone masses, and efforts to reduce project risks and costs have been extensive and time-consuming. Reaching this milestone and putting the project out to tender is a significant achievement for us,” said NCA director-general Einar Vik Arset.
Previous engagement with the contractor market, including two supplier conferences, showed there was interest in the project.
Also Harald Inge Johnsen, Stad ship tunnel project manager at the NCA stated: “The Stad ship tunnel is a spectacular and partly challenging project, unmatched anywhere in the world today. We believe this will attract many contractors, potentially creating strong competition for the project.”
With the aim of qualifying contractors for the construction work, the project now enters a prequalification phase and following this, three to five of the contractors are going to be invited to submit bids, which will evaluated and negotiated in several rounds before the most qualified bidder is selected.
On December 17 a tender conference will be held at Gardermoen by NCA, wherea it will present the project and go through the key elements of the tender documents. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions.
Registration for the tender conference is via the announcement on Doffin/Kystverket’s procurement tool, Mercell.
According to Johnsen: “The tunnel’s biggest challenge will be the size of the openings. It will be as large as the tunnel chamber itself, standing 50m high and approximately 40m wide – about seven times higher than a standard road tunnel.”
Subject to that everything proceeds as planned, the contract could be signed in autumn this year, with construction starting in early 2026. This timeline depends on receiving bids within the project’s budget framework. The NCA has estimated the construction period to be just under five years.
