The design-build contract for the Stad ship tunnel is out to tender.
The announcement has been made on Doffin, the Norwegian database for public procurement notices. The awarded contract will be based on NS 8407, a standard contract for design-build projects in Norway.
The tunnel will provide a safe passage through the Stadhavet Sea in Norway and will be the world’s first full-scale tunnel for ships. It will be 1.7km long, 50m high and 36m wide.
It has been under evaluation since the 1990s and received the green light from the Norwegian Parliament in 2021. The Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) (Kystverket) was given responsibility for the project.
“Since we were assigned the task of building the Stad ship tunnel in the spring of 2021, we have worked diligently on preparatory efforts leading up to the tender announcement. A tunnel like this has never been built before, making the technical documentation quite demanding,” said NCA director-general Einar Vik Arset.
“Additionally, the planning processes, land acquisitions, reuse of stone masses, and efforts to reduce project risks and costs have been extensive and time-consuming. Reaching this milestone and putting the project out to tender is a significant achievement for us.”
Previous engagement with the contractor market, including two supplier conferences, showed there was interest in the project.
“The Stad ship tunnel is a spectacular and partly challenging project, unmatched anywhere in the world today. We believe this will attract many contractors, potentially creating strong competition for the project,” said Harald Inge Johnsen, Stad ship tunnel project manager at the NCA.
The project now enters a prequalification phase to qualify contractors for the construction work. Following this, three to five of the contractors will be invited to submit bids, which will evaluated and negotiated in several rounds before the most qualified bidder is selected.
The NCA will host a tender conference at Gardermoen on December 17 where it will present the project and go through the key elements of the tender documents. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions.
Registration for the tender conference is via the announcement on Doffin/Kystverket’s procurement tool, Mercell.
Johnsen said the tunnel’s biggest challenge will be the size of the openings.
“It will be as large as the tunnel chamber itself, standing 50m high and approximately 40m wide – about seven times higher than a standard road tunnel,” he said.
If everything proceeds as planned, the contract could be signed in autumn this year, with construction starting in early 2026. This timeline depends on receiving bids within the project’s budget framework. The NCA has estimated the construction period to be just under five years.
The NCA has outlined the following tentative timeline for the tender process:
| Planned milestones | Tentative dates |
| Tender announcement | December 1 |
| Tender conference for interested contractors | December 17 Radisson Blu Gardermoen, kl.10 -12 |
| Deadline for request to participate | January 31, 2025 |
| Notification of qualification and invitation to selected qualified contractors to submit proposals | March 2025 |
| Joint clarification meeting and site visit at Stad, followed by separate clarification meetings with selected contractors | March – May 2025 |
| Deadline for first proposal submission | June 1, 2025 |
| Negotiation phase | August – September 2025 |
| Deadline for final proposal submission | October 2025 |
