Contract award notice – utilities
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Ltd (t/a Avanti West Coast)
North Wing Offices, Euston Station, Platform 1
London
NW1 2HS
UK
Contact person: Michael Anderson
E-mail: michael.anderson@firstgroup.com
NUTS: UK
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/
I.6) Main activity
Urban railway, tramway, trolleybus or bus services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Avanti West Coast On Train Passenger Wi-Fi network Coverage Improvement
II.1.2) Main CPV code
64200000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
The provision of on train network coverage to improve the AWC’s On Train Wi-Fi passenger services by delivering a guaranteed 98 % 4G network coverage on AWC's core and secondary sections of its train routes with minimum speed guarantees of:
(i) core connectivity service capable of delivering minimum downloads speeds of 20 Mbps; and
(ii) secondary connectivity service capable of delivering minimum downloads speeds of 2 Mbps.
This requirement will be achieved by investment with and from the selected Mobile Network Operator (‘MNO’).
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Lowest offer:
/ Highest offer:
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
32524000
32412100
32510000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UK
Main site or place of performance:
Mainline route running from Glasgow, Edinburgh in Scotland through the major cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham through to London.
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Our vision is to provide a world-class connectivity proposition that will transform customer experience. The current on train Wi-Fi service does not meet customer expectations and historically AWC has received low customer service ratings, linked to low speed and a significant number of ‘not spots’ throughout AWC’s train route.
The provision of an enhanced-on train network coverage will improve Avanti’s on Train Wi-Fi passenger services by delivering a guaranteed 98 % 4G network coverage on its core (Litchfield Trent Valley to Manchester via both Stock and Crewe, and Crewe to Liverpool) and secondary (Glasgow Central, Edinburgh to Crewe, Holyhead through to Crewe, Stafford to Birmingham New Street and Rugby through Northampton to Milton Keynes) connectivity sections of its train route with minimum speed guarantees of:
— core connectivity service capable of delivering minimum download speeds of 20 Mbps, and
— secondary connectivity service capable of delivering minimum download speeds of 2 Mbps.
The MNO will invest in the infrastructure and work collaboratively, to ensure the delivery of a secure, consistent and enhanced 4G connectivity.
The MNO is the technical design authority with full responsibility for implementing, sustaining and guaranteeing the solution to ensure it meets AWC’s requirements.
The service will be technically designed and implemented to achieve the guaranteed minimum speeds (not average speeds) and the selected MNO will provide independently verified network performance metrics.
The contract value is confidential but is in the range of between GBP 38 000 000 to GBP 49 000 000.
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
Yes
Description of options:
The contract will run for an initial period of 5.6 years extendable for a further period of 5 years.
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
II.2.14) Additional information
For the avoidance of doubt, First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Ltd (‘Avanti West Coast’) is not a utility or a contracting authority for the purposes of the Utilities Contract Regulations 2016 and this notice is published voluntarily for publicity purposes only.
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition
Justification for selected award procedure:
The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason: absence of competition for technical reasons
Explanation
The selected MNO is the only supplier that can deliver the service requirement to time and budget for the following reasons:
— survey of AWC routes shows the selected MNO to have on average 65 % of data usage on route. This demonstrates stronger coverage with other MNOs sharing the remainder of the 35 % data used combined. This means any alternate MNO would have to implement significantly more new masts to enable the coverage levels required, and new infrastructure equals significant additional capital costs,
— coverage claims regarding the selected MNO have also been independently verified for several years by ‘RootMetric’ surveys.
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
No
Section V: Award of contract
A contract/lot is awarded:
Yes
V.2 Award of contract
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
03/07/2020
V.2.2) Information about tenders
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
British Telecommunications Plc (‘BT/EE’)
London
UK
NUTS: UK
The contractor is an SME:
No
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Ltd
Capital House, Chapel Street
London
NW1 5DH
UK
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
06/08/2020