Gigabit in Scotland: public review report - revision 2

Appendix E: Lot 5 Procurement Details

The Lot 5 is scheduled to launch in May this year and initially includes 48,914 properties throughout Lot 5 encompasses parts of Perth and Kinross, Dundee, Angus, Aberdeenshire, Moray and Highland. It is bounded by the river Tay in the South, the North Sea in the East and the Moray Firth in the North. In the Southwest the lot is largely bounded by the A9, the eastern limits of the city of Perth and the town of Dunkeld. The western boundary is largely bounded by the river Tay and southern and eastern edges of the Grampian mountains and Cairngorms national park. In Highland, the lot extends to include Ardersier and Inverness airport and is bounded to the south by the forest areas of the Spey and lower Grampian mountains.

The Scottish Government has carried out market engagement to seek feedback from suppliers on the Scotland-wide intervention area and individual Lot design, including procurement type and market capacity to bid for potential procurements.

The total public funding investment has been based on the number of premises requiring subsidy. The Scottish Government will confirm a budget drawn from public funding for this area within the forthcoming tender documentation. Details of any restrictions on the use of public subsidy will be explained within the tender documentation.

Lot 5 will be a Type B (regional) procurement with an initial 48,914 in-scope premises and 19,518 deferred scope premises for an anticipated subsidy amount of £105,716,142. The in-scope and deferred scope premises for the procurement are shown below. Full details of eligible premises will be included within the tender documentation and are available to suppliers on request.

This procurement was designed utilising data from the PR conducted in Scotland referred to in this document and supplemented with information derived from the October 2023 rolling Open Market Review undertaken by the Scottish Government and subsequent supplier and programme updates received up to the 19^th January 2024. Premises identified as no longer valid in our baseline Ordnance Survey data have also been removed. This ensures that we have used the most up to date information about suppliers’ existing and planned commercial build with supplier submissions being used to inform eligibility across Project Gigabit in Scotland procurements.

The Scottish Government is confident that integrating these rolling OMR findings will ensure the best possible outcome for this procurement area, maximising both coverage and value for money accordingly. Our interventions will always flex to respond to both changes in the dynamic marketplace, and the appetite for our procurements.

The forthcoming procurement for Lot 5 will be carried out in accordance with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015^[10]. Scottish Government procurement approaches are designed to address the scale of the individual procurements. The Lot 5 procurement will be conducted in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner. The Scottish Government reserves the right to amend or withdraw the procedure for the competitive sourcing process at any time. Any amendments will be done in line with the Procurement Regulations.

Suppliers acknowledge and accept that by issuing this document, the Scottish Government shall not be bound to progress or conclude any related procurement activity.

Under no circumstances shall the Scottish Government incur any liability in respect of the information contained in this document or any supporting documentation.

Timescales

The following table summarises the indicative timescales for the Lot 5 procurement:

Activity: Procurement start date

Date: May 2024

Activity: Estimated contract award date

Date: February 2025