Following the publication of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) final civil engineering market study report, CECA members were recently joined at a webinar with representatives from the CMA to hear about its key findings and the next steps. Ben Goodwin, CECA’s Director of Policy and Public Affairs, looks at the key takeaways from the session in this short blog.
The CMA launched its market study in June 2025, with the outcome a series of solutions and recommendations to tackle long-standing delivery issues in road and rail infrastructure.
The CMA’s final report included five headline recommendations:
- Strategic ownership for driving change: the CMA recommends that HM Treasury takes strategic ownership for driving and overseeing the necessary system-wide changes to actively shape the market (recognising its overarching responsibility for infrastructure strategy across the public sector, and its ability to deploy the necessary convening powers and levers within the UK Government).
- A clear plan for the sector: the UK Government, in consultation with the Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive, should publish a strategic sector plan for civil engineering in the road and rail sector and report annually on progress.
- Credible long-term pipelines: multi-year funding and clearer forward project pipelines to give firms the confidence to invest in skills, capacity and innovation.
- Procurement designed for long-term value: improving how projects are scoped, procured and delivered to promote competition, lower costs, support investment and incentivise innovation.
- Building public-sector capacity: tackling capacity and skills shortages in procuring authorities through strengthening capability, shared expertise and smarter joint procurement.
The Government is currently considering the recommendations put forward by the CMA and is due to respond with next steps imminently (having now missed the original 90-day deadline, which began at the publication of the final report in May 2026).
CECA’s webinar began with representatives from the CMA setting out the background to the study and the approach that was taken to gather evidence.
There is approximately £19bn worth of spending per year in the road and rail sectors, but it is not always the case that this is being delivered in the most effective way.
The CMA aimed to focus its study on the dynamics of how the civil engineering market operates, the government approach to procurement, and the way in which decisions around how regulatory issues are taken.
The key findings from the study which were presented to those gathered for the webinar, included the ongoing challenge of pipeline uncertainty; the issue of high market costs and the extent to which these have been increasing in real terms; the undermining impacts of short-term funding cycles on planning; and overly complex regulatory processes slowing down delivery.
Following the CMA’s presentation CECA members were given the opportunity to introduce some of their thoughts and insights.
These included the much-needed improvements that could be made to the UK Infrastructure Pipeline to improve its value in relation to the funding confirmation and planning status of projects, alongside greater clarity on procurement timelines.
Other attendees reflected on a perceived need to make the Construction Playbook mandatory, to encourage longer-term contracts, multi-year funding, and the promotion of early contractor involvement.
Insights were also shared in relation to the uncertainty that devolution is creating for the market in understanding how local government reorganisation is impacting routes to market for different projects and programmes – something that has certainly gathered pace in recent months and urgently needs addressing.
On 21 September, CECA will be holding an online workshop with the Office of Rail and Road focused on current market conditions and to discuss skills and capacity issues in relation to pipeline. If you are a CECA member and would like to attend you can book your place(s) here.