The Guardian: The government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has come under fire from the private sector for the allegedly slow speed with which it is handling the award of the second-biggest procurement contract ever - the £1bn-a-year Sellafield clean-up.

Amec, which, with Washington Group and Areva is part of one of the four consortiums shortlisted for the work, said it was increasingly assessing overseas opportunities because of delays. Final bids for the work must be in next month and the contract is expected by the end of the year.

"I am lucky," said Samir Brikho, Amec's chief executive. "This is a very small part of our business but if it was a very large part then I would be worried that it was continually delayed; that I was waiting and waiting and nothing was happening."

It was not as though the clean-up agency was having to decide on which design of reactor it should choose, he added. "What are we fighting over? How to close a plant? They need to take a decision."

Brikho speculated that the delay was a result of "turbulence" inside the NDA, with the departure of two chairmen in six months and a swathe of senior staff more recently.

The NDA said it was inevitable, with so much riding on a contract that could have a total value of well over £10bn, that there would be statements such as those of Brikho but it denied there were any significant delays.