A9 Dualling Programme Work and Costs: EIR release

Information requested

Please provide the following information for EACH sub-section of the A9 Delivery Programme as per screenshot attached.

1. Month/Year when initial/preliminary design work commenced, detailing what stage it is currently at.
2. Names of the Design Consultant(s) engaged to undertake this work.
3. Design Fees (£) incurred (to date) by these consultants.
4. Legal Fees (£) incurred (to date) by internal and external solicitors dealing with any matters relating to the works eg land referencing, CPO work etc. Names of external solicitors engaged if applicable.
5. Current expenditure, and estimated total expenditure.

I also request a copy of the contract (redacted as necessary) for the A9 Tomatin - Moy sub-section which is currently being tendered. Please also provide the names of the organisations/companies who wrote, or assisted with the writing of, this contract.

Please advise how long it took Transport Scotland to complete the A9 Luncarty - Birnam sub-section from initial design to construction end. The total cost is requested, along with the percentage spent on design consultants fees.

Response

Responses to each of your questions are provided below.

Month/Year when initial/preliminary design work commenced, detailing what stage it is currently at.

The projects within the A9 Dualling Programme have been informed by a number of studies commissioned by Transport Scotland:

• Strategic Transport Projects Review (2008), which identified dualling of the A9 as a priority intervention
• A9 Dualling Strategic Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Engineering Services Study, both commissioned in September 2012. The two studies worked together to identify the engineering and environmental aspects of the A9 Dualling Programme and identified the twelve projects tabled below, with two being merged into one later.

The dates provided below are the dates when design work on individual projects commenced.

Scheme	Month/Year Design Work Commenced	Current Stage
A9 Dualling – Luncarty to Pass of Birnam	February 2009	Statutory Process complete. Construction complete. Operational.
A9 Dualling - Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing	February 2009	Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) Stage 3 (detailed development and assessment of the preferred route option).
A9 Dualling - Tay Crossing to Ballinluig	August 2014	Statutory Process in progress, Orders became made on 27 October 2021.
A9 Dualling - Pitlochry to Killiecrankie	August 2014	Statutory Process in progress, Orders became made on 27 October 2021.
A9 Dualling - Killiecrankie to Glen Garry*	August 2014	Statutory Process in progress, with draft Orders published November 2017.
A9 Dualling - Glen Garry to Dalwhinnie	June 2014	Statutory Process in progress, Orders became made on 1 July 2021.
A9 Dualling - Dalwhinnie to Crubenmore	June 2014	Statutory Process in progress, Orders became made on 1 July 2021.
A9 Dualling - Crubenmore to Kincraig	June 2014	Statutory Process in progress, with draft Orders published September 2018.
A9 Dualling - Kincraig to Dalraddy	November 2003	Statutory Process complete. Construction complete. Operational.
A9 Dualling - Dalraddy to Slochd	January 2015	Statutory Process in progress, with draft Orders published August 2018.
A9 Dualling - Tomatin to Moy	January 2015	Statutory process complete. In procurement.

* The A9 Dualling projects Killiecrankie to Pitagowan and Pitagowan to Glen Garry were combined in 2016/17 and became known as Killiecrankie to Glen Garry.

Names of the Design Consultant(s) engaged to undertake this work.

Design Fees (£) incurred (to date) by these consultants.

Please find below table detailing design consultants and fees from 2012 to the date of your request, 27 March 2024. The figures provided are inclusive of VAT where applicable.

Please note that data prior to 2012 is not included. Transport Scotland’s financial records for the A9 Dualling Programme prior to 2012 cannot be accurately calculated in the format requested due to a change in systems.

Scheme	Design Consultant	Spend (£)
A9 Dualling - Luncarty to Pass of Birnam	Jacobs	8,421,421.90
A9 Dualling - Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing	Jacobs	23,421,305.00
A9 Dualling - Tay Crossing to Ballinluig	Jacobs	18,209,763.36
A9 Dualling - Pitlochry to Killiecrankie	Jacobs	18,359.378.59
A9 Dualling - Killiecrankie to Glen Garry*	Jacobs	24,222,949.95
A9 Dualling - Pitagowan to Glen Garry*	Jacobs	1,607,474.59
A9 Dualling - Glen Garry to Dalwhinnie	Halcrow Fairhurst Joint Venture	17,318,681.14
A9 Dualling - Dalwhinnie to Crubenmore	Halcrow Fairhurst Joint Venture	20,553,349.64
A9 Dualling - Crubenmore to Kincraig	Halcrow Fairhurst Joint Venture	24,076,843.18
A9 Dualling - Kincraig to Dalraddy	Atkins	3,678,287.54
A9 Dualling - Dalraddy to Slochd	Atkins Mouchel Joint Venture	43,223,158.56
A9 Dualling - Tomatin to Moy	Atkins Mouchel Joint Venture	33,079,081.82
Total Spend (£)		236,171,695.27

* The A9 Dualling projects Killiecrankie to Pitagowan and Pitagowan to Glen Garry were combined in 2016/17 and became known as Killiecrankie to Glen Garry.

Legal Fees (£) incurred (to date) by internal and external solicitors dealing with any matters relating to the works eg land referencing, CPO work etc. Names of external solicitors engaged if applicable.

Please find below table detailing solicitors and legal fees from 2012 to the date of your request, 27 March 2024. The figures provided are inclusive of VAT where applicable.

Please note that data prior to 2012 is not included. Transport Scotland’s financial records for the A9 Dualling Programme prior to 2012 cannot be accurately calculated in the format requested due to a change in systems.

Scheme	Solicitors	Spend (£)
A9 Dualling - Luncarty to Pass of Birnam	Morton Fraser, MacRoberts, Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP, Anderson Strathern	74,692.61
A9 Dualling - Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing	CKD Galbraith LLP, Allen Gordon LLP, MacRoberts LLP, Morton Fraser	96,525.73
A9 Dualling - Tay Crossing to Ballinluig	Morton Fraser	82,184.74
A9 Dualling - Pitlochry to Killiecrankie	Morton Fraser, Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP	226,907.01
A9 Dualling - Killiecrankie to Glen Garry*	Morton Fraser, Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP, Anderson Strathern	254,415.61
A9 Dualling - Pitagowan to Glen Garry*	None	0.00
A9 Dualling - Glen Garry to Dalwhinnie	Morton Fraser	53,462.00
A9 Dualling - Dalwhinnie to Crubenmore	Morton Fraser	38,429.76
A9 Dualling - Crubenmore to Kincraig	Morton Fraser, Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP	276,715.84
A9 Dualling - Kincraig to Dalraddy	Morton Fraser	260,304.77
A9 Dualling - Dalraddy to Slochd	Morton Fraser, Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP	342,091.96
A9 Dualling - Tomatin to Moy	Morton Fraser, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP, CMS Cameron McKenna LLP, Lindsays LLP	165,670.68
Total Spend (£)		1,871,400.71

* The A9 Dualling projects Killiecrankie to Pitagowan and Pitagowan to Glen Garry were combined in 2016/17 and became known as Killiecrankie to Glen Garry.

Current expenditure, and estimated total expenditure.

Total spend on the A9 Dualling programme from 2012 to the date of your request is approximately £468,051,385.88 inclusive of VAT where applicable. This figure includes spend for taking the various component projects through design and statutory process stages, acquisition of land, demolition and preparatory works, procurement of contractors to construct the works, as well as costs of construction works undertaken to date.

As noted above, data prior to 2012 is not included. Transport Scotland’s financial records for the A9 Dualling Programme prior to 2012 cannot be accurately calculated in the format requested due to a change in systems.

In regards to estimated expenditure, under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. This information has been published on our A9 Dualling website and can be accessed at the following link; A9 Background and Benefits - A9 Dualling

I also request a copy of the contract (redacted as necessary) for the A9 Tomatin - Moy sub-section which is currently being tendered.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to all of the information you have requested because it is material which is still in the course of completion. I can confirm that the procurement for the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy project is underway and is currently expected to achieve contract award in early Summer 2024. Once the contract is awarded we will publish a redacted version of the contract on our website.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and this will be met by our planned publication once the contract is awarded. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that unfinished or incomplete information which is still under active consideration is not disclosed when it might misinform the public or give a misleading impression of the Government’s view or position on the matter to which the information relates.

Please also provide the names of the organisations/companies who wrote, or assisted with the writing of, this contract.

CMS Legal Services (formerly known as CMS Cameron Mckenna LLP) and Atkins Mouchel Joint venture have been involved with contract drafting for A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy project.

Please advise how long it took Transport Scotland to complete the A9 Luncarty - Birnam sub-section from initial design to construction end. The total cost is requested, along with the percentage spent on design consultants fees.

The design work on the A9 Dualling: Luncarty to Pass of Birnam project commenced in February 2009. I can confirm that the road opened to the public on 28 August 2021.

The total spend on the A9 Dualling: Luncarty to Pass of Birnam project from 2012 to the date of your request is £99,336,379.57, inclusive of VAT where applicable. I can confirm that approximately 8.5 % of total spend to date was spent on design consultant fees.

This figure includes spend for taking the project through design and statutory process stages, acquisition of land, demolition and preparatory works, procurement of contractors to construct the works, as well as costs of construction works undertaken to date.

As noted above, data prior to 2012 is not included. Transport Scotland’s financial records for the A9 Dualling Programme prior to 2012 cannot be accurately calculated in the format requested due to a change in systems.

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FOI 202400406660 - Information Requested - A9 Screenshot

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