Broadband infrastructure in Scotland: public review

6. Procurement and Commercial Approach

The Scottish Government in collaboration with the UK Government has undertaken early market engagement in relation to procurement for potential interventions. This engagement has included consultation on the programme design, different potential target areas, technical specification (including wholesale access), procurement types and contractual terms. Feedback from broadband suppliers and other stakeholders has been taken into account in all of these areas.

Any future procurements led by the Scottish Government will be carried out in accordance with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 (PCSR 2015). Scottish Government procurement approaches are designed to address the scale of the individual procurements. Any such procurements will be conducted in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner.

Potential forthcoming procurement - Scotland

The Scottish Government is committed to working collaboratively with the UK Government to ensure an appropriate amount of public funding is available for Project Gigabit in Scotland, based on the final number of premises requiring subsidy for a defined area or areas, at the procurement stage.

The budget for any future procurements will be specified within the relevant Invitation to Tender (ITT) documentation, following the PR. Details of any restrictions on the use of public subsidy will be explained in the tender documentation. It is the intention to procure gigabit-capable solutions – capable of achieving a minimum of 1Gbps download speed - to the majority of premises identified as in scope for subsidy. Note that the final list of premises in scope for subsidy will be issued with the ITT and is not finalised at this stage. Final IA’s may be a subset of the premises classified as White in the subsidy assessment and will be subject to overlays, including other active/planned publicly-funded interventions (e.g. the Reaching 100% Programme).

Once the review is closed and we have finalised the IA, it is anticipated that the first ITT in a likely series of ITTs will be issued within approximately 6 months via an appropriate procurement portal, for suppliers to bid for the opportunity to deliver extended gigabit-capable broadband coverage.