25 March 2022
The Fehmarnbelt tunnel's electrical installations are among the biggest components of the 18-kilometre-long tunnel to Germany. After a thorough procurement process, Femern A/S has chosen to award the contract to the SICE-Cobra consortium of companies from Spain, USA, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia.
The job of fitting the Fehmarnbelt tunnel with advanced equipment and technology is worth around DKK 4 billion. The assignment covers ventilation, lighting and safety systems, and was advertised as a design and build contract.
“This contract is crucial to our ambition for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel to be the green transport corridor of the future. All bidders submitted top-quality tenders which met our requirements for expertise and qualifications, but the chosen consortium submitted the best bid in terms of price and quality,” says Jens Ole Kaslund, technical director for Femern A/S.
The procurement procedure for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel started in the spring of 2021 with a prequalification stage in which three consortia submitted their initial tenders for negotiation in November.
Due to a very good negotiating offer from SICE-Cobra, Femern A/S decided to proceed directly to the contract award process. In general, Femern A/S acknowledges that all the participants in the tender have, as expected, shown a high level throughout the process.
SICE-Cobra has won various contracts in the Nordic countries in recent years. In Sweden, it has contracts for the “Stockholm, Bypass” motorway, the northern and southern extensions of the Stockholm Metro, and the Tingstad tunnel in Gothenburg. Last year in Norway, it won the contract to implement the electrical installations along 23 kilometres of motorway between Ranheim and Værnes, including a total of 15 kilometres of tunnels.
In the contracts, Femern A/S has demanded an energy-efficient solution and has thus also placed special emphasis on this in the evaluation of the consortiums' tenders.
“We are building a tunnel which will not only run on 100% renewable energy but will also use the electricity supplied as efficiently as possible. The design and build contractor is required to deliver the right technical solutions for the opening in 2029 and to adapt the installations to the green technologies of the future,” says Kaslund.
As with the other major contracts on the Fehmarnbelt project, the consortium is expected to use a large number of sub-contractors. There is also a requirement for the contractors to employ apprentices.
SICE-Cobra comprises:
Supporting entities: