Vetting procedures followed when appointing suppliers for the R100 service: FOI release

Information requested

What vetting procedures were followed when appointing your suppliers for this service and how their performance is reviewed?  It relates to the Reaching 100% Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and your dealings with BRDY, one of the scheme's registered suppliers.

Response

When a new supplier registers to be part of R100 SBVS, they go through a full application process before they are confirmed as suitable for the scheme – full details can be found in our Supplier Terms and Conditions.

However, in essence, for a supplier to be eligible to deliver services through R100 SBVS, the packages and connections they offer must meet a number of defined criteria. They must:

• Deliver a connection speed greater than 30 Mbps (Megabits per second);
• Deliver a “step change” in service, which is defined as at least doubling the speed of the end user’s currently available speed; 
• Not have a prohibitive data cap (subject to industry standard fair use rules);
• Cost no more than £56.20 per month for an on-going broadband subscription, as per our affordability threshold.

If suppliers confirm they can meet all criteria, they then submit a full application form, where due diligence is carried out using the following checklist:

• Confirmation that they are a member of a Trade Industry Body – this is verified via the trade body website;
• Confirmation that they are a member of an ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) Service – this is verified via the ADR website;
• Company information is checked on Companies House, ensuring that they are a UK based company or have a UK subsidiary;
• Review and confirmation that an Ordnance Survey (OS) Licence Agreement is in place.
• Confirmation that they have existing coverage and the geographic area in which they provide services.

When all due diligence has been carried out and a supplier has been successfully registered, they can then start applying for vouchers on behalf of eligible beneficiaries.

Following a successful connection, a validation request email is issued to the beneficiary, who then confirms whether or not they are getting speeds of above 30 Mbps. No payment is made to suppliers until the beneficiary confirms that a compliant connection has been installed. We also have an independent third party auditor - Campbell and Kennedy - who carry out on-site audits to check both the equipment and the speeds provided. Connections to be audited are chosen at random.

With regards to your specific issue with BRDY, once a connection has been delivered and validated, the contract between the beneficiary and the supplier is a commercial one. There are a number of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes available to you, should this be required. As per the criteria set out above, all registered R100 SBVS suppliers must be a member of an ADR service to successfully register on the scheme.

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