The £5 Billion Case for Reform: What the CMA’s Road and Rail Study Means for Irish Infrastructure Procurement

A landmark study by the UK Competition and Markets Authority has confirmed what infrastructure procurement professionals have long argued: fragmented, short-term approaches to public works procurement drive up costs, slow delivery and hold back innovation. Published on 21 May 2026 following eleven months of analysis, the CMA’s road and rail civil engineering market study found around £19 billion was spent on road and railway infrastructure in 2023/24, excluding HS2, and improved procurement could save up to £5 billion a year. For Ireland, where the All-Island Strategic Rail Review and the NDP 2026 to 2035 represent one of the largest infrastructure pipelines in the country’s history, the lessons apply directly.

The CMA’s diagnosis is precise. Chief Executive Sarah Cardell described a short-term and fragmented approach driving up costs and slowing delivery, framing the findings as an opportunity for systemic change. Four structural drivers are identified: funding uncertainty, short-term decision-making, complex regulation and capability gaps. These define infrastructure procurement in any jurisdiction where capital budgets are set annually, responsibility is fragmented and procurement capability is inconsistently resourced.

The recommendations are concrete and transferable. The CMA calls for a strategic civil engineering sector plan, multi-year funding and pipeline commitments, mandatory use of the Construction Playbook, a single approved supplier accreditation list, a review of bespoke contract clauses that transfer risk inappropriately, and joint procurement to aggregate demand. ACE policy director Marie-Claude Hemming called for multi-year funding settlements and a regulatory environment supporting SME participation. These principles apply as directly to Irish infrastructure procurement as to the UK.

The relevance for Ireland is immediate. The AISRR proposes a £30 billion programme over 25 years and the NDP 2026 to 2035 commits €275 billion in public capital investment. Both will test procurement capability at scale. The OGP’s National Procurement Strategy offers a live opportunity to embed these lessons before the pipeline arrives. Ireland’s Capital Works Management Framework already incorporates early contractor involvement, but the CMA study reinforces that such principles must be binding practice rather than guidance.

Three actions follow for Irish procurement leaders. Contracting authorities should map contract structures against the CMA’s risk allocation findings, identifying bespoke clauses that transfer inappropriate risk to subcontractors. Procurement teams should engage with the OGP’s National Procurement Strategy consultation to advocate for multi-year framework arrangements on infrastructure categories. CPOs overseeing NDP programmes should use the CMA study as a calibration tool, benchmarking pipeline visibility and contract design against a framework now validated by a major regulator.

The CMA’s conclusion is optimistic: the scale of the problem is the scale of the opportunity. For Irish procurement leaders managing one of the largest infrastructure investment cycles in the state’s history, capturing that opportunity starts with the reforms the CMA has now set out in clear, actionable terms.

(The views expressed by the writer are his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of BusinessRiver.)