Hurdles hit Rogfast undersea link 01 Aug 2019

Three shortlisted tenders for the first major lot of the world-beating Rogfast undersea road project in Norway have come in either too high or with too long a construction period, giving the Norwegian Roads Authority, the NPRA, a puzzle on what to do next. Resolving the issues with the E02 Kvitsøy lot looks set to delay procurement of the two large additional E03 Harestad and E04 Laupland contracts for the project.

Fig 1. Scope of the Rogfast E02 Kvitsøy Lot

Rogfast will be the longest undersea road tunnel in the world, with twin, T10.5 profile excavations running 26.7km under the Bokna Fjord, near Stavanger. It has a budget of NKr17 billion (some US$1.65 billion) and forms a strategic part of the E39 West Coast Highway for Norway. Contract E02 includes 21km of drill+blast excavation to create access to Kvitsøy Island in the middle of the long undersea highway route and ventilation shafts for the twin tubes (Fig 1).

According to NPRA, two of the shortlisted tenders, from Skanska and Marti, did not proceed to submission of financial offers for the E02 Kvitsøy lot because the offers were based on longer construction periods than allowable under the build programme for the package. The NPRA decision to exclude the two bids from the process was not contested by the contractors.

Fig 2. Route of world record Rogfast undersea road link

The third bid from the Implenia/Stangeland JV is within the allowable construction period but is higher on cost than budgeted. NPRA spokesman, Øyvind Ellingsen, told TunnelTalk that the JV offer of NKr4.5 billion (about US$438 million), is about 29% or NKr1 billion higher than the budget for the contract. The bid is therefore classed as the remaining bidder rather than as the preferred or selected bidder. Ellingsen said NPRA is now considering the bid, the contract budget and possible cost-reduction options.

NPRA has spent extensive time planning and preparing for the procurement phase of the Rogfast project and conducted market dialogue sessions for the E02 Kvitsøy lot in 2018. Given the intense effort and time spent, Ellingsen confirmed the Authority was surprised at the bidding outcomes on the first major tunnelling works package.

The Implenia/Stangeland JV has been working locally over recent years on the completed E39 Eiganes road tunnel to the north of Stavanger. Marti has also been working locally on part of the Ryfast undersea road tunnel which links to the Eiganes route and is due to open at the end of 2019.

Procurement planning

Following the market discussions, five contractors registered expressions of interest in the estimated NKr3-3.5 billion (US$290-340 million) E02 Kvitsøy lot. In February 2019, the number was shortlisted to three with the bids from PNC Norge and Salini Impregilo groups being eliminated.

Preparations to open the Ryfast/Eiganes connection

Earlier this year, NPRA planned to begin the tender process of the E03 Harestad and E04 Laupland contracts in June and September, respectively, and held a market dialogue day with contractors for the E04 Laupland in mid-June. Now “we will not know until we finish the E02 Kvitsøy contract process,” said Ellingsen. The E04 lot involves 19km of main tunnel excavations with another 16km of the main tunnel required under the E03 Harestad lot.

Excavation works on the small Arsvågen and Mekjarvik lots at either end of the subsea link and in preparation for the E03 and E04 contracts have been completed. Programming for the Rogfast mega project has been based on opening the subsea link to traffic in 2026.