Amey, the support services provider with over 500 employees in the West Midlands, has enlisted Birmingham law firm, Wragge & Co, to assist its bid for a landmark road maintenance project.
The Birmingham Highways PFI contract is the UK's biggest such scheme, with almost 2,500km in line for improvement.
Amey is one of four companies in contention to win the £2.2 billion of work to upgrade and maintain all roads, bridges, footpaths plus roadside lighting and horticulture in Birmingham for the next 25 years.
The others are Atkins EDF Energy, Balfour Beatty/Mouchel Parkman and Vinci, Amec and Laing.
Birmingham City Council will name the successful bidder in 2006.
PFI & infrastructure partner David Fennell is leading the Wragge team of projects, finance, employment and pensions experts. He and projects specialists Tony Cheema and Heledd Bennett Joynson are working closely with Amey in-house lawyer Toby Smith and company employees based in Birmingham.
Mr Fennell said: "As both a local lawyer and local resident, it is exciting to be closely involved in a project that will change our city for the better."
Nick Dawson, Amey's bid director, said: " We are delighted to be bidding to work with the city council.
"Our goal is to assist the council achieve its vision of a high quality transport system that combines accessibility with an enhanced quality of life resulting from safer roads, less congestion, and improved air quality."
Meanwhile Matthew Elson, a senior policy adviser on transport in the Prime Minister's office, has been appointed to head up the Atkins EDF bid.
He has been a member of the 15-strong No 10 Policy Directorate with specific responsibility for advising the Prime Minister on transport policy since 2002. His wide ranging role covered many key transport issues including road pricing, the upgrade of the London Underground and the 2004 Transport White Paper.
Before working at No 10, he was an associate principal for global business strategy consultancy McKinsey, whose clients included P&O and British Airways.
Mr Elson said: " Our approach to this bid, to champion local delivery with local people, is well established through partnerships with a number of well-known Birmingham contractors with whom we would wish to share in the future success of this exciting project."
The Atkins EDF Energy Consortium is supported by Tarmac, R&C Williams, Fitzgerald Contractors and JA Bates.
Atkins employs around 900 people in the centre of Birmingham and has been involved in some of the most significant civil engineering projects in the country including the M6 Toll, M25 widening and Heathrow Terminal Five access.
