Procurement of Business Partner making good progress

Three bids were submitted for the Digital Region Broadband Project on 31 May 2006 as the first stage of the EU procurement process came to a close.

The three Bidders are derived from a shortlist of five companies. Thales Telecommunication Services Ltd is leading a consortium with, Alcatel Telecom Ltd, and Kingston Communications to compete with individual bids from BT plc and BkyB Easynet.

The first phase of the procurement process began back in Autumn 2005 when potential business partners were invited to bid for the design, build, management and operation of the Digital Region infrastructure.

Click here to find out more – www.digitalregion.co.uk/dev.html

Autumn 2005 – Issue of OJEU Notice

Notices were issued in October 2005 inviting expressions of interest as part of a full and negotiated EU procurement process.

Early 2006 – Pre-Qualification and Evaluation Stage

Bidders who expressed an interest were then pre-qualified, shortlisted and invited to attend an Inception meeting in Sheffield in early February 2006.  With representation from all interested parties, the meeting gave potential bidders an opportunity to find out more about the vision for Digital Region, meet representatives from across South Yorkshire, and hear at first hand from regional stakeholders such as Yorkshire Forward and the local authorities.

Since the Inception meeting, representatives from Digital Region have held regular meetings with each of the bidders as they prepared their detailed technical and commercial proposals.

Spring 2006 - Submission of State Aid Notification

Having submitted a State Aid notification, early indications to the Digital Region Project have been positive, with an initial response from the EU and ongoing clarification.

Procurement process – Second Phase

31 May 2006 – Bids submitted

June/July 2006 – Clarification with Bidders

30 July 2006 – Best and Final Offer (BAFO) documentation issued to bidders

September 2006 – Bidders submit BAFO

30 September 2006 – recommendation of final Business Partner made by Digital Region Board to South Yorkshire Local Authorities

The Digital Region Project Board

Membership of the Digital Region Project Board is drawn from across South Yorkshire.  Board Member representatives include:

Tony Newson

Objective 1

Robert Ling

E-Business Manager, Yorkshire Forward

Laraine Manley (Chair)

Director of Corporate Resources, Sheffield City Council

Carol Mills

Executive Director, Corporate Resources Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

Chris Partridge

Head of Information Strategy, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

Steve Dann

Spatial Planning & Economic Development Manager, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council

Ed Brown

Chief Executive, Adit North

Graeme Dent

Project Director

About Digital Region

The aim of the Project is to create a ubiquitous, high speed, next generation broadband infrastructure that provides an open access platform for Service Providers to offer innovative services to business, residential and public sector customers.

The Digital Region Project is supported by a partnership of Objective 1, Yorkshire Forward, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and Sheffield City Council

To register an interest in the Digital Region project, click on:

www.digitalregion.co.uk/contact.html