On 19 June 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a formal market study into the supply of roads and railways by the civil engineering sector in the UK. The study covers the entire lifecycle of public highway and railway infrastructure, from design and planning, through to construction, enhancement, renewal and maintenance. In this briefing, we explain how this latest development fits within the UK's growth agenda, what the market study process will involve and how to engage with the CMA.
On 19 June 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a formal market study into the supply of roads and railways by the civil engineering sector in the UK. The study covers the entire lifecycle of public highway and railway infrastructure, from design and planning, through to construction, enhancement, renewal and maintenance.
The "test case" for the CMA's new growth agenda
It is no coincidence that the CMA's launch of the market study was announced on the same day as the publication of the UK Government's 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy, and follows the Chancellor's recent £15.6 billion funding commitment to modernising urban transport systems.
Earlier this year, the CMA was given a clear political steer by the Government to prioritise markets that directly contribute to delivering the Government's commitment to economic growth, while incentivising investment and minimising "red tape" for businesses. This study into the market dynamics underpinning the UK's ability to build a modern and resilient public highway and railways system falls squarely within the Government's agenda and was explicitly mentioned in the Government's Industrial Strategy as one of the tools to modernise the construction sector, alongside investment in skilled worker training, digitising project pipelines and reforming the planning system. The study also complements the Government's package of legal reforms underway, including the new Procurement Act 2023, which reformed existing procurement processes; the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which intends to further streamline procurement timelines and the Railways Bill that will introduce a single, unified UK railway infrastructure and passenger services operator.
Scope of the market study
The CMA will examine a number of issues, which go to the core of how competition for rail and road civil engineering projects takes place in the UK:
- Public procurement processes – i.e., whether changes could be made at the tender stage with a view to improving how public authorities work with suppliers to deliver projects on time and within the anticipated budget.
- Barriers to participation – i.e., the impact of the procurement, planning and regulatory ecosystem on supplier costs and incentives and whether it creates any significant and unnecessary barriers to investment, entry and expansion and suppliers' ability to innovate.
- Structure of the supply chain – i.e., whether competition between suppliers for public sector contracts is working well, particularly given high SME participation in the sector. This will explore, for example, the current approach to sub-contracting, the extent of vertical integration among suppliers and financial arrangements associated with public tenders.
The CMA will conclude its study by recommending a series of changes and reforms to Government on a forward-looking basis, to best incentivise civil engineering firms to deliver road and rail infrastructure projects in a way that supports UK productivity and economic growth.
Industry engagement: what is the process that the CMA will follow?
Stakeholders are invited to make initial representations to the CMA on the scope of the study by 17 July 2025, with an interim report due to be published by November 2025 and the final report by April 2026. However, firms should expect close engagement with the CMA throughout the process (e.g., responding to inpidual requests for information, participating in consultation processes over the coming months on the CMA's emerging findings and attending industry roundtables – see below).
Importantly, the CMA has publicly committed to adopting a so-called "4Ps" protocol for the civil engineering market study, which is intended to make stakeholder engagement less burdensome for businesses. The market study is the first CMA project that will put these principles to the test:
- Pace – increasing speed of its decision-making. The CMA plans to issue the final market study report within 10 months from the market study launch (as opposed to the maximum 12 months permitted by legislation). The CMA has emphasised that prompt and constructive engagement with market participants will be key to achieving this shortened timetable. Firms should therefore expect short deadlines for responding to CMA requests for information and a degree of pre-existing knowledge of the market, as a specialist technical advisory panel will be brought in to assist the CMA throughout the market study. It remains to be seen whether this ambitious timing can be achieved in practice, given that the CMA also plans much closer engagement with industry, not just through written information requests but also via industry roundtables and qualitative research. This suggests that the information gathering will be extensive.
- Predictability – reducing business uncertainty. The CMA has already stated that it does not expect to refer the inquiry to a more in-depth market investigation and that its final report will take the form of targeted recommendations to the Government (rather than seeking to extract commitments from industry).
- Proportionality - reducing the burden on businesses created by the CMA's processes. The CMA has signalled that its approach, including when requesting information, will be proportionate and targeted to the limited issues within the scope of the study. For example, the CMA's analysis will be focused on strategic and substantial projects involving capital investment, rather than small maintenance activities. It will also not consider issues previously reviewed by other bodies to avoid duplication (e.g., HS2 or the procurement of railway signalling) or ancillary elements, such as telecommunications.
- Process – increasing direct business engagement. The CMA intends to seek feedback from a broad range of stakeholders within the supply chain, including: civil engineering contracting firms (Tiers 1, 2 and 3); civil engineering consultants; public authorities responsible for procurement and assessing planning applications; rail and road regulators; and representatives of UK Government, devolved government bodies and local authorities. In a departure from its usual practice, the CMA is planning industry roundtables and meetings with senior business representatives at key stakeholders. The CMA also ran an industry-facing webinar on 30 June attended by a senior decision-maker, to provide an overview of the scope of its inquiry, outline the timetable, explain how businesses can engage and give an opportunity to ask questions. A separate event for public and governmental bodies took place on 1 July.
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