How to engage with the CMA's civil engineering market study took place

In June 2025, the CMA launched a study into the design, planning and delivery of railway and public road infrastructure by the civil engineering sector.

We lookedare looking at:

• how the market works
• how well it performs for businesses and the public
• how it could work better

We focusedare focusing on how the public sector and industry couldcan work together to best deliver large and complex infrastructure projects in the future.

We lookedare looking at this market because the infrastructure it delivers is important to the UK economy. If working well, it could boost economic growth.

Market study timeline

Image description: The main stages of our civil engineering market study, as described in the paragraphs below.

Below we outline all the steps we havewill takentake in this market study.study, and how you can engage with us.

The dates are included as a guide and may be updated.

We will update this page throughout the market study, and you can subscribe to get emails when we update it (select the button at the top of the page).

Launch: June 2025

On 19 June 2025 we launched the market study.study, which we expected to last for 10 months.

We published a statement of scope, which:

• setsets out the purpose and proposed scope of the market study
• providedprovides an overview of the sector and the themes we proposedpropose to explore
• outlinedoutlines our intended approach to evidence-gathering

We invited views on the purpose and proposed scope of the market study, through questions in the statement of scope document. The deadline for responses was 17 July 2025.

We also published a market study notice, which sets out the legal scope of the study.

Webinar: Introduction to our civil engineering market study

We held a webinar to give stakeholders an overview of the study’s purpose and proposed scope, and an opportunity to ask any questions. We’ll continue to engage with stakeholders throughout the market study.

Introduction to our civil engineering market study

Other ways to engage

If you have specific questions about the market study, email civilengineering@cma.gov.uk. We will aim either to reply by email, set up a call or update the civil engineering market study case page with more information.

Evidence gathering and analysis: June to November 2025

The CMA gathered evidence and carried out analysis to identify any issues in the market and areas for potential improvement.

In line with the approach set out in the statement of scope, we focused on understanding how public procurement approaches, barriers in the market and supply-side features affect the market’s functioning.

We:

• hosted roundtables and meetings with civil engineering businesses, local authorities, trade associations, procuring bodies, regulators and other stakeholders
• collected information from the main civil engineering businesses and public authorities including by using formal requests
• selected case studies from across the nations and regions of the UK reflecting different outcomes
• analysed available market data through desk-based research
• sent informal questionnaires, such as brief online surveys to key market participants
• worked with the UK government and devolved governments, to understand applicable legal and policy frameworks
• received and published responses to our invitation to comment
• commissioned qualitative research from Jigsaw Research, who engagedwill engage directly with civil engineering businesses

Sector panel

As part of our evidence gathering, we appointed a civil engineering sector panel. This panel broughtbrings together both sides of the market (supply and demand) to encourage debate and gather opinions. The panel exploredwill explore the CMA’s emerging thinking on:

• challenges the sector might face

• any possible recommendations the CMA could make to the UK government or industry, in light of the potential findings of its market study

This sector panel wasis made up of individuals who workedwork for the following organisations: 

• ADEPT
• AE Yates
• Arup
• AtkinsRealis
• Balfour Beatty
• Cabinet Office
• Costain
• Department for Infrastructure (Northern Ireland)
• D Morgan
• Ice
• Jacobs
• Kier
• Murphy
• Network Rail
• National Highways
• National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority
• Office of Road and Rail
• Scottish Government
• Skanska

Internal state of play meeting

In late September 2025, the CMA held an internal state of play (ISOP) meeting to assess the themes being explored in the market study against the evidence gathered to date; and to determine, applying our prioritisation principles, whether to continue, amend or remove any areas of analysis.

The conclusion of the ISOP meeting was to continue to focus on the themes outlined in the statement of scope:

• public procurement
• barriers in the market
• supply-side features

We will continue to look across rail and road markets across the UK.

We decided to deprioritise further work on the intrinsic financial and economic costs of entering the civil engineering market and late payment, noting that the UK government was,is atcurrently the time, consulting on proposals to to tackle poor payment practices. Our ongoing work on barriers in the market focusedwill focus on procurement, planning and regulatory processes.

Consultation on emerging thinking and remedies: December 2025 to February 2026

Interim report

On 17 December 2025, the CMA published its interim report which:

• setsets out our work to date on the market study

• outlinedoutlines our concerns about the market, and areas for potential improvement

• proposedproposes some possible options for improving outcomes

We published the responses to our interim report.

Webinar: interim report

We held a webinar on 8 January 2026, which gave an overview of the interim report and how to respond to it.

Webinar: Civil engineering market study interim report

Finishing our evidence gathering

AfterNow publishingwe have published our interim report, we gatheredare gathering additional evidence to fully develop our findings and any recommendations.

We have sent furthermore requests for information, and metare meeting with more civil engineering businesses, local authorities, procuring bodies and regulators.

Final report: May 2026

OnWe 21will Maypublish 2026, we published our final report settingthat sets out our conclusions about the market, and any remedies such as recommendations to government and public authorities.

Due to elections taking place across the UK,UK Scottishon andThursday Welsh7 governmentsMay 2026, and the Northernassociated Irelandpre-election Executive.restrictions for civil servants, we now intend to publish our final report in May. We have updated the administrative timetable on the case page.