Pilot project: Federal government awards contract for repair of locks under operation assisted by Heuking
In a unique award project, the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (New Waterways construction Authority) is preparing to renovate 200 locks with an innovative approach. For the first time ever, tests will be performed to renovate locks while they are in operation. The team led by Dr. Ute Jasper of Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek designed the procedure and supports the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute and the New Waterways Construction Authority in the Europe-wide invitation to bid.
As a novelty, the know-how of design and construction companies will be incorporated into the award procedure from the outset. The innovative approach will test various structural engineering procedures to repair locks while in operation and out of service.
“We are developing innovative award procedures to optimally implement our clients’ objectives. This is one of the reasons why this project was particularly appealing to us. It simplifies the award procedure, improves results, and speeds up the entire process when we include technical proposals from construction companies at an early stage,” said Dr. Ute Jasper, Head of the Public Sector & Public Procurement practice group. “This allows construction engineering processes to be used and tested while the locks remain in operation.”
The results of this innovative approach will form the basis for the remedial maintenance of numerous locks during ongoing shipping operations in the future. Up to to 200 single-chamber locks overall will have to be modernized in the next few years.
The component tests in the right chamber of the Oberesslingen lock were published by the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute, the Heidelberg New Waterways Construction Authority, and the Institute for Technology and Management in Construction Operations at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology on the federal e-tendering platform on December 27, 2021. The notification was preceded by extensive dialogs between interested construction companies and the bodies responsible for the project, on the basis of which the award documents were agreed.
Interested companies may now register and submit applications by the beginning of February. Following their assessment, the selected bidding consortia will likely develop their concepts in several award rounds by August 2022 and submit a final bid by November 2022. The final award is currently expected to be issued by mid-December 2022.
Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek‘s “Public Sector & Public Procurement” department has been one of the market leaders in public procurement law for years. Its lawyers hold top spots in German and international lawyer rankings. Since 1991, they have advised on awards, restructuring, large-scale projects, and cooperations in the public sector and have accompanied several hundred large-scale projects of federal, state, and local authorities and their subsidiaries with a total volume in excess of EUR 40 billion without any procedure having been successfully challenged to date.
Dr. Ute Jasper is one of the most renowned lawyers for procurement and infrastructure projects in the public sector. She advises federal and state ministries, municipalities, and businesses, particularly on innovative and complex projects. Ute Jasper heads Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek's “Public Sector & Public Procurement” department. For years, she has been ranked number 1 with her team in JUVE Handbook of Commercial Law Firms. According to “Law Firms in Germany,” she is the “premier contact on the market” for infrastructure. In October 2016, she received the JUVE Award for Regulated Industries with her team.
