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Contract Award Notice

Full Fibre Northern Ireland — Gigabit Capable Fibre Tranche 2

  • First published: 27 April 2021
  • Last modified: 27 April 2021

The buyer is not using this website to administer the notice.

To record your interest or obtain additional information or documents please find instructions within the Full Notice Text. (NOTE: Contract Award Notices and Prior Information Notices do not normally require a response)

Contents

Summary

OCID:
Published by:
Newry Mourne and Down District Council
Authority ID:
AA72357
Publication date:
27 April 2021
Deadline date:
-
Notice type:
Contract Award Notice
Has documents:
No
Has SPD:
No
Has Carbon Reduction Plan:
N/A

Abstract

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (The Council) hosts the Full Fibre Northern Ireland (FFNI) Consortium and is procuring services on behalf of the Consortium Members and other public sector customers.

FFNI is a Consortium of the ten Northern Ireland Councils outside Belfast.

This procurement is one of several that will be operated by the Council on behalf of the customers, dividing the total requirement into smaller collections of sites.

The Council wishes to procure a supplier of gigabit-capable fibre connectivity services that will underpin Wide Area Network Connectivity to Customer sites.

FFNI’s Gigabit Capable Connectivity Project is part-funded by the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) through Wave 3 of its Local Full Fibre Network Programme (LFFN). It may also be part-funded by the DCMS Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) Programme, and by other sources of funding.

The Council requires the Supplier to design, build and operate the services over the duration of the contract.

The Council wishes to procure replacement access circuits in the form of Point-to-Point (P2P) dark fibre, or virtual equivalent circuits (Tail Circuit Services) to customer locations across the Consortium Members’ administrative areas.

These infrastructure services will be procured over the long term, from 20 to 30 years or more. It is anticipated that through the potentially large number of connected sites, economies of scale may be realised through aggregation, leading to innovative and cost-effective solutions from the market.

The customers intend to separate the provision of these infrastructure services from the provision of their Wide Area Network (WAN) services. Their WAN managed services will be delivered through the arrangements with existing WAN suppliers, or will be separately procured.

The supplier may provide all elements of the Solution itself or may combine commodity services and products from telecoms providers, services from subcontractors, and its own tools, services and expertise, to provide the solution.

The supplier will provide a service management function to manage proactively the availability of the solution to agreed service levels, and to provide prompt remedial action in the event of failure. All aspects of the service should be compliant with the relevant security, information management and regulatory requirements.

All bids must provide dark fibre (or equivalent) gigabit-capable fibre circuits that meet the requirements described in Requirement 1 of the Volume 2 Requirements document.

The B end connection must be to a Point of Presence that is directly or indirectly accessible to typical WAN Suppliers, so that the circuits may be quickly, cost effectively and practically integrated into the Customers’ WANs.

The circuit must be maintained in usable condition, available to the customer for a period of at least 20 years.

The supplier will hold a separate contract with each customer, so that this procurement is expected to result in ten separate contracts. However, the contracts will be almost identical, other than in respect of the sites that they cover.

Full notice text

Contract award notice

Results of the procurement procedure

Section I: Contracting entity

I.1) Name and addresses

Newry Mourne and Down District Council

Downshire Civic Centre

Downpatrick

BT30 6GQ

UK

Contact person: Only Online through portal at: www.newrymournedown.org/procurementE

E-mail: David.Barter@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.1) Name and addresses

Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council

Civic Centre, 50 Stiles Way

Antrim

BT41 2UB

UK

Contact person: Michael Forster

E-mail: michael.forster@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.1) Name and addresses

Ards and North Down Borough Council

The Castle

Bangor

BT20 4BT

UK

Contact person: Michael Forster

E-mail: michael.forster@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.1) Name and addresses

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council

The Palace Demesne

Armagh

BT60 4EL

UK

Contact person: Michael Forster

E-mail: michael.forster@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.1) Name and addresses

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council

66 Portstewart Road

Coleraine

BT52 1EY

UK

Contact person: Michael Forster

E-mail: michael.forster@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.1) Name and addresses

Derry City and Strabane District Council

98 Strand Road

Derry

BT48 7NN

UK

Contact person: Michael Forster

E-mail: michael.forster@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.1) Name and addresses

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council

2 Townhall Street

Enniskillen

BT74 7BA

UK

Contact person: Michael Forster

E-mail: michael.forster@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.1) Name and addresses

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council

Lagan Valley Island

Lisburn

BT27 4RL

UK

Contact person: Michael Forster

E-mail: michael.forster@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.1) Name and addresses

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council

1-29 Bridge Street

Ballymena

BT43 5EJ

UK

Contact person: Michael Forster

E-mail: michael.forster@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.1) Name and addresses

Mid Ulster District Council

Burn Road

Cookstown

BT80 8DT

UK

Contact person: Michael Forster

E-mail: michael.forster@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.1) Name and addresses

Business Services Organisation (BSO)

2 Franklin Street

Belfast

BT2 8DQ

UK

Contact person: Michael Forster

E-mail: michael.forster@nmandd.org

NUTS: UKN0

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.newrymournedown.org

Address of the buyer profile: www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

I.2) Joint procurement

The contract involves joint procurement

I.4) Type of the contracting authority

Regional or local authority

I.5) Main activity

General public services

Section II: Object

II.1) Scope of the procurement

II.1.1) Title

Full Fibre Northern Ireland — Gigabit Capable Fibre Tranche 2

Reference number: 001-2020

II.1.2) Main CPV code

72000000

 

II.1.3) Type of contract

Services

II.1.4) Short description

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is the host organisation for the Full Fibre Northern Ireland (FFNI)Consortium.

FFNI is a Consortium of the ten councils in Northern Ireland outside Belfast.

FFNI was awarded a grant of GBP 15 000 000 from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Wave 3 Local Full Fibre Network Programme. This is supplemented by other sources of funding, including DCMS Rural Gigabit Connectivity grant funding and Consortium Member and Customer funding.

FFNI’s Gigabit Capable Fibre project recognises that the provision of high quality, reliable high-speed connectivity is a necessity for a 21st century economy and society. FFNI is therefore seeking to future proof its own network connectivity requirements for the next 20 years or more through the installation of gigabit capable digital infrastructure services.

II.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

II.1.7) Total value of the procurement

Value excluding VAT: 8 953 450.11  GBP

II.2) Description

II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)

72720000

32410000

32400000

32420000

32430000

32500000

32510000

32520000

32560000

32570000

32580000

51300000

45000000

50330000

II.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS code:

UKN0

II.2.4) Description of the procurement

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (The Council) hosts the Full Fibre Northern Ireland (FFNI) Consortium and is procuring services on behalf of the Consortium Members and other public sector customers.

FFNI is a Consortium of the ten Northern Ireland Councils outside Belfast.

This procurement is one of several that will be operated by the Council on behalf of the customers, dividing the total requirement into smaller collections of sites.

The Council wishes to procure a supplier of gigabit-capable fibre connectivity services that will underpin Wide Area Network Connectivity to Customer sites.

FFNI’s Gigabit Capable Connectivity Project is part-funded by the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) through Wave 3 of its Local Full Fibre Network Programme (LFFN). It may also be part-funded by the DCMS Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) Programme, and by other sources of funding.

The Council requires the Supplier to design, build and operate the services over the duration of the contract.

The Council wishes to procure replacement access circuits in the form of Point-to-Point (P2P) dark fibre, or virtual equivalent circuits (Tail Circuit Services) to customer locations across the Consortium Members’ administrative areas.

These infrastructure services will be procured over the long term, from 20 to 30 years or more. It is anticipated that through the potentially large number of connected sites, economies of scale may be realised through aggregation, leading to innovative and cost-effective solutions from the market.

The customers intend to separate the provision of these infrastructure services from the provision of their Wide Area Network (WAN) services. Their WAN managed services will be delivered through the arrangements with existing WAN suppliers, or will be separately procured.

The supplier may provide all elements of the Solution itself or may combine commodity services and products from telecoms providers, services from subcontractors, and its own tools, services and expertise, to provide the solution.

The supplier will provide a service management function to manage proactively the availability of the solution to agreed service levels, and to provide prompt remedial action in the event of failure. All aspects of the service should be compliant with the relevant security, information management and regulatory requirements.

All bids must provide dark fibre (or equivalent) gigabit-capable fibre circuits that meet the requirements described in Requirement 1 of the Volume 2 Requirements document.

The B end connection must be to a Point of Presence that is directly or indirectly accessible to typical WAN Suppliers, so that the circuits may be quickly, cost effectively and practically integrated into the Customers’ WANs.

The circuit must be maintained in usable condition, available to the customer for a period of at least 20 years.

The supplier will hold a separate contract with each customer, so that this procurement is expected to result in ten separate contracts. However, the contracts will be almost identical, other than in respect of the sites that they cover.

II.2.5) Award criteria

Quality criterion: As specified in the documents / Weighting: 70

Cost criterion: As specified in the documents / Weighting: 30

II.2.11) Information about options

Options: Yes

Description of options:

The customer may order connections to or between further sites at a future time, for example where further budget becomes available, where new sites are acquired or built, where additional resilience is required, or for other reasons.

The customer may order additional ancillary services and equipment to support the Tail Circuits, including optical network termination equipment and relevant technical services.

II.2.13) Information about European Union funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1) Description

IV.1.1) Type of procedure

Open procedure

IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No

IV.2) Administrative information

IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure

Notice number in the OJ S:

2020/S 072-173485

Section V: Award of contract

Title: Full Fibre Northern Ireland — Gigabit Capable Fibre Tranche 2

A contract/lot is awarded: Yes

V.2 Award of contract

V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract

//

V.2.2) Information about tenders

Number of tenders received: 4

The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No

V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor

Fibrus Networks Ltd

Belfast

UK

NUTS: UKN0

The contractor is an SME: No

V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)

Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot:

Total value of the contract/lot: : 8 953 450.11  GBP

V.2.5) Information about subcontracting

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.3) Additional information

Suppliers will be expected to deliver services that demonstrate a best value approach.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is a Public Authority within the meaning of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and all correspondence received will be dealt with in accordance with the Act.

Newry Mourne and Down District Council is procuring the public contract on behalf of itself and the following bodies delivering public services (Contracting Bodies):

• Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council;

• Ards and North Down Borough Council;

• Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council;

• Causeway, Coast and Glens Borough Council;

• Derry City and Strabane District Council;

• Fermanagh and Omagh District Council;

• Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council;

• Mid and East Antrim Borough Council;

• Mid Ulster District Council;

• Business Services Organisation.

Any such Contracting Body will be entitled, with the prior written consent, of and through the Authority, to contract with and require services to be delivered to it by the appointed organisation on the same or substantially the same terms and conditions as agreed with the Authority.

The contracting authority intends to use an e-Tendering system for this procurement process, e-hub www.newrymournedown.org/procurement

Supplier registration is free of charge.

Follow the registration instructions on the e-hub portal.

Browse to the opportunity

Access the volumes of the Invitation to Tender provided.

Submit your Tender Response by the deadline indicated.

It is strongly recommended that Suppliers unfamiliar with the e-hub Procurement Portal ensure that they are able to access all relevant functions well ahead of the closing dates, since late responses may not be accepted.

If you have any difficulties with the e-hub Procurement Portal, please call 0800 731 6575.

VI.4) Procedures for review

VI.4.1) Review body

Royal Courts of Justice (NI)

Chichester St.

Belfast

BT1 3 JF

UK

Telephone: +44 2890235111

E-mail: adminoffice@courtsni.gov.uk

Internet address(es)

URL: http://www.courtsni.gov.uk

VI.4.3) Review procedure

Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:

The Council will incorporate a minimum 10 calendar day standstill period when information on the award of the contract is communicated to tenderers.

This period allows tenderers to seek further debriefing from the Council before the contract is entered into.Applicants have 2 working days from notice of the award decision to ask for additional debriefing and that information has to be provided a minimum of 3 working days before the expiry of the standstill period. Such additional information should be requested from email address:

david.barter@nmandd.org

If a dispute about contract award has not been successfully resolved the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 allow aggrieved parties who have been harmed or are at risk of harm by a breach of the rules to take action in the High Court. Any such action must be brought promptly (generally within 1 month). The purpose of the standstill period referred to above is to allow parties to apply to the Courts to set aside the award decision before the contract is entered into.

VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice

22/04/2021

Coding

Commodity categories

ID Title Parent category
32570000 Communications equipment Telecommunications equipment and supplies
45000000 Construction work Construction and Real Estate
32580000 Data equipment Telecommunications equipment and supplies
32560000 Fibre-optic materials Telecommunications equipment and supplies
51300000 Installation services of communications equipment Installation services (except software)
72000000 IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support Computer and Related Services
32410000 Local area network Networks
50330000 Maintenance services of telecommunications equipment Repair, maintenance and associated services related to personal computers, office equipment, telecommunications and audio-visual equipment
32420000 Network equipment Networks
32400000 Networks Radio, television, communication, telecommunication and related equipment
32520000 Telecommunications cable and equipment Telecommunications equipment and supplies
32500000 Telecommunications equipment and supplies Radio, television, communication, telecommunication and related equipment
32430000 Wide area network Networks
72720000 Wide area network services Computer network services
32510000 Wireless telecommunications system Telecommunications equipment and supplies

Delivery locations

ID Description
100 UK - All

Alert region restrictions

The buyer has restricted the alert for this notice to suppliers based in the following regions.

ID Description
There are no alert restrictions for this notice.

About the buyer

Main contact:
David.Barter@nmandd.org
Admin contact:
N/a
Technical contact:
N/a
Other contact:
N/a

Further information

Date Details
No further information has been uploaded.

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