ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV

Olympic Delivery Authority chief executive David Higgins has stamped his influence on the Olympic construction programme by scrapping the existing tenders for a programme manager and velopark designer.

In a move announced at today's Olympic business summit, Higgins has axed the contracts in order to change their scope. The move will come as a huge blow to existing bidders, particularly the six bidders who have spent the last six months bidding for the programme manager contract. These are: KBR/Capita, Mace/Davis Langdon, Lend Lease, Amec, Arup/Gardiner & Theobald and Parsons Brinckerhoff.

The news will come as a relief for those who feared the Olympics would not adopt progressive procurement techniques. Higgins said he wanted the ODA to be a smart client like BAA at Heathrow Terminal 5, which champions supply chain integration.

The programme manager role will be enlarged to take in a wider remit in both the games and legacy. The programme manager will work with the ODA to hire a design team for the stadium and manage the integration of all work related to sustainability. The ODA has said that the PM role could be filled by more than one firm.

The ODA said that changes to EU procurement rules which came into force in January meant it could not alter the scope of the contracts within the existing tenders. It will retender the PM role in the coming weeks, but the velopark contract will not be reissued until the summer.

The move was announced at the Olympic business summit in London today, where Higgins also confirmed that the EDAW consortium and multidisciplinary consultants Arup and Atkins have been appointed to design the Olympic Park and infrastructure.

The EDAW team, which produced the masterplan for London's successful Olympic bid, comprises EDAW, Buro Happold, Foreign Office Architects, HOK Sport and Allies & Morrison. The appointment, predicted in ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV two weeks ago, means the team, led by Jason Prior, will now work with the interim ODA to further the Olympic Park masterplan and design the infrastructure elements of the Park. The design for the Olympic venues and Athlete's village will be tendered separately.

Also at today's summit, London 2012 deputy chairman Keith Mills revealed a schedule of milestones and a sponsorship plan for the Olympic Games.

Key milestones include:

2006 - Marketing / sponsorship plan and launch of London 20012 logo and brand

2007 - Venue overlay specifications

2008 - Beijing closing ceremony handover to London 2012

2010 - Volunteer recruitment programme launched

2011 - Olympic Games tickets goon sale

2010 /2012 - Test events

2012 - 27 July opening ceremony

Mills said that the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games would be looking for sponsors in four sectors during 2006 - automotive, banking, telecoms and utilities. Initial discussions will take place from March this year.

He said: "The aim is to sign at least one major sponsor by the end of this year but we will be taking a targeted approach to our sponsorship programme and will focus initially on just these four sectors."

Mills also confirmed that the London 2012 logo and brand identity will be launched by end 2006/early 2007.