The Australian New South Wales Government has shortlisted three bidders for the development of the new Grafton Correctional Centre PPP project.

In February we reported that the NSW Government had launched the request for expressions of interest (RFEOI) for the project.

The shortlisted teams are:

• GEO Consortium (including Lendlease, Richard Crookes, Capella)
• Greater Futures Partnership (including Sodexo, Watpac, Plenary)
• Northern Pathways Partnership (including Serco, John Holland, Macquarie, John Laing)

The project, which will be located about 12.5 kilometres south-east of Grafton, involves the design, build, finance, operation (including providing all custodial services) and maintenance of a new prison through the public, private partnership (PPP) model.

The project was initially planned to accommodate around 1000 prisoners, but, according to sources, the total project capacity will be expanded to accommodate up to 1700 beds, in order to increase State's need for prison capacity.

In March we informed that Jacobs Engineering Group had been appointed to act as security technical advisor and engineering technical advisor. Additionally the company is a sub-consultant to the lead technical consultant, the architect firm NBRS+Partners.