Norway - Construction work - Rørdalsfjord Bridge

Vestland county plans to enter into a contract with one turnkey contractor for the engineering design services for and construction of a new bridge over Rørdalsfjorden at Ytre Sula in Solund municipality, as well as improvements to the accompanying county road county road 5591 Nåravegen on both sides of the fjord. The background for the project is the need to replace the existing bridge, which has technical limitations and currently constitutes a bottleneck for traffic. When Ytre Steinsund bridge opens in November 2026, all traffic to Ytre Sula will be led via Rørdalsfjord bridge. It is therefore necessary to upgrade both the bridge and the accompanying road section in order to ensure better accessibility and increased traffic safety. About the project: The project currently comprises the following main work, subject to changes up until the notice: • Establishment of a new concrete bridge over Rørdalsfjorden, with a length of approx. 75 metres divided between two spans with steel pipe piles in the sea. Note that a concrete beam bridge is described in the zoning plan. However, the bridge type has not yet been determined and it can be changed to a different type of concrete bridge (concrete box, concrete slab or concrete girder). • Demolition of an existing bridge and reversal/arrondering of old sea filling. • Improvement of the existing single-lane road over a stretch of approx. 700 metres. The construction of a pavement or foot and cycle path along Nåravegen is not planned. The new bridge will, however, have a wider width than the current bridge, which will contribute to increased safety for walking. The planned progress for the contract works is: • Start-up: July 2026 • Blasting and pigging connected to the road installations as well as pile work connected to the bridge works: before January 2027. • Completion of the new bridge: medio 2027 • Demolition of the existing bridge: before January 2028. The assignment shall be carried out as a turnkey contract in accordance with NS 8407. Detailed information on the project can be found here: • Vestland county road 5591 Rørdalsfjord bridge • Solund municipality: Planning documents Please note that the zoning plan is for a hearing and that changes can occur in the approved plan. About the procurement: The procurement is planned to be carried out as a negotiated procedure after a prior notice. The contracting authority will use the following provisional progress plan: • Announcement: Start of March 2026 • Application deadline: Mid April 2026. • Sending of invitations to submit tenders: End of April 2026 • Tender deadline: The end of May 2026 • Evaluation and negotiations: Weeks 22-26 • Contract award: end of June/beginning of July 2026 The reason for the relatively tight progress plan is that noisy work in the form of pigging, piling and blasting can only be carried out in the period from 15 June to 15 January. The contracting authority would therefore like to enter into a contract before the joint holiday. The aim is to set qualification requirements connected to, among other things, economic and financial capacity, experience from engineering design services for and the construction of comparable bridge and road installations (including any demolition works), as well as a quality assurance system, environmental management system and HSE system. The award is planned based on the best conditions between price and quality. The quality criteria can include assignment comprehension, including planned execution of the project and the offered core team. It may also be necessary to evaluate the offered technical solution and/or climate and environmental conditions, for example, binding measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the implementation, the climate gas budget or a combination of these. The contracting authority particularly wants feedback in the supplier meetings on whether the planned progress - especially the time set aside before the tender deadline - is assessed realistically, in the context of the proposed award criteria. Furthermore, input is wanted on individual qualification requirements, for example connected to experience, can be limiting. Invitation to market dialogue: Vestland County invites interested suppliers to participate in the market dialogue in order to provide input on the procurement/project. The dialogue will be held as individual supplier meetings (one to one meetings on Teams) on 27.01.2026, with a duration of up to 45 minutes per meeting. The following times are available: • 08:30-09:15 • 09:30-10:15 • 10:30-11:15 • 11:45-12:30 • 12:45-13:30 • 13:45-14:30 • 14:45-15:30 The date will be awarded on the "first come, first served" principle. The contracting authority will submit concrete questions that feedback is particularly wanted on upon registration. Other concrete inputs are also wanted for the project and procurement. Registration Registration for the 1-1 meeting shall be sent to: hilde.olsen@inventura.no