Services concession for the provision of a high speed broadband network to deliver on the requirements of the National Broadband Plan (NBP)

Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is commencing procurement for the establishment of a high speed broadband network with minimum service requirements under the National Broadband Plan (‘NBP’).This contract notice is for a ‘service concession’ whereby a contractor(s) will design, finance, develop, construct, operate, maintain and exploit a wholesale Next Generation Access network and associated services within the NBP Intervention Area (‘IA’), which currently covers over 750 000 premises. More details are set out in the Project Information Memorandum.
The NBP's vision is to connect all Ireland's communities by dealing definitively with the broadband connectivity challenge in rural areas by stimulating investment at a wholesale level. This allows retail service providers to access network infrastructure and to compete on a level playing field in supplying retail services to end users in the IA.
Two Ownership Models are included within the procurement, subject to the Ownership Model Determination (see Section 5 of the PIM) as follows:
— Commercial Stimulus Model (private sector build, finance, own, operate and maintain with obligations)
— Concession Model (private sector finance, build, operate and maintain with asset reversion)
The IA is split into two geographic areas and a combined area as follows:
— Lot Area A: Southern Intervention Area
— Lot Area B: Northern Intervention Area
— Lot Area C: Combined Northern and Southern Intervention Area.
Bidders can opt for the Lot Areas individually or for the entire IA on either or both of the Ownership Options.
As there are 2 Ownership Models, separate lots have been created for each of these areas utilising the different Ownership Models. The Government will shortlist one Ownership Model at the end of pre-qualification.
The contract(s) will involve European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding and will be subject to any requirements arising under ERDF funding conditions.

Deadline

The time limit for receipt of tenders was 2016-02-29. The procurement was published on 2015-12-22.

Suppliers

The following suppliers are mentioned in award decisions or other procurement documents:

Who? What? Where?
Procurement history
Date Document
2015-12-22 Contract notice
2021-01-28 Contract award notice
Contract notice (2015-12-22)
Object
Scope of the procurement
Title: Telecommunications network
Quantity or scope:
The procurement is for Intervention Area (IA) which currently covers over 750 000 premises as described in Section 3 of the PIM (and, as noted in the PIM, the number of premises and the scope of the Intervention Area and each Lot Area may change).The IA is split into two geographic areas and a combined area (details provided in Section 5 of the PIM) as follows:— Lot Area A: Southern Intervention Area— Lot Area B: Northern Intervention Area— Lot Area C: Combined Northern and Southern Intervention Area.Two Ownership Models are included within the Procurement, subject to the Ownership Model Determination (details provided in Section 5 of the PIM) as follows:— Commercial Stimulus Model (private sector build, finance, own, operate and maintain with obligations)— Concession Model (private sector finance, build, operate and maintain with asset reversion)Bidders can opt for the Lot Areas individually or for the entire IA on either or both of the Ownership Options as described in Section 4 of the PIM.Bidder(s) are referred to Section 6 of the PIM which details the likely wholesale network, products and services to be provided under the Contract.The contract period will likely be for 25 years (300 months) with no options to extend.Bidders should note that the Department reserves the right to refine, remove or change its requirements during the Procurement process. Bidders should also note that as set out in the PIM there may be changes in the scope and/or scale of the services required under the Contract and the Department may seek to agree a modification to the Contract after award to facilitate the provision of such services by the contractor.Further details are set out in the PIM.
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Notice metadata
Original language: English 🗣️
Document type: Contract notice
Nature of contract: Services
Regulation: European Union, with participation of GPA countries
Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)
Code: Telecommunications network 📦

Procedure
Procedure type: Competitive dialogue
Type of bid: Submission for all lots
Award criteria
The most economic tender

Contracting authority
Identity
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Awarding authority type: Ministry or any other national or federal authority
Awarding authority name: Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources
Postal address: 29-31 Adelaide Road
Postal code: D02 X285
Postal town: Dublin
Contact
Internet address: http://www.dcenr.gov.ie 🌏
E-mail: nbpprocurement@dcenr.gov.ie 📧
Phone: +353 16783185 📞

Reference
Dates
Date dispatched: 2015-12-22 📅
Submission deadline: 2016-02-29 📅
Publication date: 2015-12-24 📅
Identifiers
Notice number: 2015/S 249-455315
Refers to notice: 2015/S 207-375761
OJ-S issue: 249
Additional information
ETenders Bidders must register on the www.etenders.gov.ie website in order to get clarifications. Background Documentation There are various background documents referred to in the PIM (including, in particular, the High Speed Broadband Map 2020 and the various reports identified in section 3 of the PIM such as the Intervention Strategy and the Technical Report). These documents can be found at the following website address: http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/communications/en-ie/Broadband/Pages/Connecting-Communities.aspx
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Object
Scope of the procurement
Short description:
The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is commencing procurement for the establishment of a high speed broadband network with minimum service requirements under the National Broadband Plan (‘NBP’).This contract notice is for a ‘service concession’ whereby a contractor(s) will design, finance, develop, construct, operate, maintain and exploit a wholesale Next Generation Access network and associated services within the NBP Intervention Area (‘IA’), which currently covers over 750 000 premises. More details are set out in the Project Information Memorandum.
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The NBP's vision is to connect all Ireland's communities by dealing definitively with the broadband connectivity challenge in rural areas by stimulating investment at a wholesale level. This allows retail service providers to access network infrastructure and to compete on a level playing field in supplying retail services to end users in the IA.
Show more
Two Ownership Models are included within the procurement, subject to the Ownership Model Determination (see Section 5 of the PIM) as follows:
— Commercial Stimulus Model (private sector build, finance, own, operate and maintain with obligations)
— Concession Model (private sector finance, build, operate and maintain with asset reversion)
The IA is split into two geographic areas and a combined area as follows:
— Lot Area A: Southern Intervention Area
— Lot Area B: Northern Intervention Area
— Lot Area C: Combined Northern and Southern Intervention Area.
Bidders can opt for the Lot Areas individually or for the entire IA on either or both of the Ownership Options.
As there are 2 Ownership Models, separate lots have been created for each of these areas utilising the different Ownership Models. The Government will shortlist one Ownership Model at the end of pre-qualification.
The contract(s) will involve European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding and will be subject to any requirements arising under ERDF funding conditions.
Lot number: 1
Title of the lot: Lot 1A Southern Intervention Area
Short description:
Means the lot for the Southern Intervention Area under the Commercial Stimulus Model.
Lot number: 2
Title of the lot: Lot 1B Northern Intervention Area
Short description:
Means the lot for the Northern Intervention Area under the Commercial Stimulus Model.
Lot number: 3
Title of the lot: Lot 1C Combined Northern and Southern Intervention Area
Short description:
Means the lot for the combined Southern Intervention Area and Northern Intervention Area under the Commercial Stimulus Model.
Lot number: 4
Title of the lot: Lot 2A Southern Intervention Area
Short description: Means the lot for the Southern Intervention Area under the Concession Model.
Lot number: 5
Title of the lot: Lot 2B Northern Intervention Area
Short description: Means the lot for the Northern Intervention Area under the Concession Model.
Lot number: 6
Title of the lot: Lot 2C Combined Northern and Southern Intervention Area
Short description:
Means the lot for the combined Southern Intervention Area and Northern Intervention Area under the Concession Model.
Quantity or scope:
The procurement is for Intervention Area (IA) which currently covers over 750 000 premises as described in Section 3 of the PIM (and, as noted in the PIM, the number of premises and the scope of the Intervention Area and each Lot Area may change).
The IA is split into two geographic areas and a combined area (details provided in Section 5 of the PIM) as follows:
— Lot Area A: Southern Intervention Area
— Lot Area B: Northern Intervention Area
— Lot Area C: Combined Northern and Southern Intervention Area.
Two Ownership Models are included within the Procurement, subject to the Ownership Model Determination (details provided in Section 5 of the PIM) as follows:
— Commercial Stimulus Model (private sector build, finance, own, operate and maintain with obligations)
— Concession Model (private sector finance, build, operate and maintain with asset reversion)
Bidders can opt for the Lot Areas individually or for the entire IA on either or both of the Ownership Options as described in Section 4 of the PIM.
Bidder(s) are referred to Section 6 of the PIM which details the likely wholesale network, products and services to be provided under the Contract.
The contract period will likely be for 25 years (300 months) with no options to extend.
Bidders should note that the Department reserves the right to refine, remove or change its requirements during the Procurement process. Bidders should also note that as set out in the PIM there may be changes in the scope and/or scale of the services required under the Contract and the Department may seek to agree a modification to the Contract after award to facilitate the provision of such services by the contractor.
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Further details are set out in the PIM.
Description of options:
Please see Section 7.5 of the PIM which details the Department‘s position on optional and additional services.
Reference number: 2015/12
Name of EU-financed project or programme:
Please note the project involves European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding, see section 2.5 of PIM.
Place of performance
Main site or place of performance: Ireland.

Legal, economic, financial and technical information
Conditions for participation
Suitability to pursue the professional activity:
The Department will, subject to section 12.3 of the PIM, disqualify any Bidder who (or whose Bidder Member) falls within any of the circumstances set out in Regulation 53(1) of the European Communities (Award of Public Authorities‘ Contracts) Regulations 2006.
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The Department may, subject to section 12.3 of the PIM, disqualify any Bidder who (or whose Bidder Member) falls within any of the circumstances set out in Regulation 53(4) of the European Communities (Award of Public Authorities‘ Contracts) Regulations 2006.
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These grounds are as described in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire available on eTenders.
Economic and financial standing:
The Bidder must in their response to the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire provide the information and evidence required within the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire.
Minimum level(s) of standards:
The Department will, subject to section 12.3 of the PIM, disqualify any Bidder who fails to…
… satisfy the minimum score relating to its demonstrated Economic and Financial Standing which will be assessed in accordance with section 12.7 of the PIM.
… self-certify to the satisfaction of the Department its agreement and capability to provide insurances and a performance bond (where applicable) in accordance with PQQ questions A.9 and B.9 respectively.
These grounds are further described in Section 12 of the PIM and in the PQQ, which are available on eTenders.
Technical and professional ability:
The Bidder must in their response to the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire provide the information and evidence required within the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire.
Minimum level(s) of standards:
The Department will, subject to section 12.3 of the PIM, disqualify any Bidder who fails to…
… satisfy the minimum score relating to its demonstrated Technical and Professional Capability which will be assessed in accordance with section 12.8 of the PIM.
… self-certify to the satisfaction of the Department its compliance to PQQ Questions A.6, A.10 and/or A.11.
These grounds are further described in Section 12 of the PIM and in the PQQ.
Contract execution
Deposits and guarantees required:
The Department reserves the right, at its absolute discretion, to reasonably require the successful Bidder(s) / Preferred Bidder(s) as a condition of Contract to procure the provision to the Department of guarantees, collateral warranties or other forms of security such as a performance bond in respect of the delivery of the Project / Contract (or a part of the Project / Contract) to the satisfaction of the Department. Such a requirement may apply to the deployment phase of the Project and/or to the operating phase.
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Further details are provided in Section 10 of the PIM.
Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:
The Department will pay to the Contractor a capital related subsidy in the form of a capital grant, part of which is expected to be paid during deployment and part of which is expected to be paid over the operational life of the Contract. Payments will be made in accordance with the conditions of Contract that will be provided to the short listed Bidders at the next stage of the Procurement and refined through the Procurement process. Further details are provided in section 5.3 of the PIM.
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Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:
No special legal form is required or specified at the prequalification stage. However, where the Bidder is a consortium, the Bidder may be required to contract on a basis which the Department considers appropriate in its discretion having regard to the nature, size and complexity of the contract. For example, the Department may require the Bidder to contract:
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— on the basis of joint and several liability among the Consortium Members; or
— with a particular single Consortium Member of the Bidder as the prime contractor (with some or all of the Consortium / Bidder Members providing collateral warranties and/or guarantees); or
— as an incorporated or unincorporated special purpose vehicle (with guarantees and/or collateral warranties from the other Consortium / Bidder Members); and in any event
— in a manner and on terms satisfactory to the Department.
Please see section 10 of the PIM which details the Departments requirements in relation to Bidder composition.
In addition, the Department will also include a requirement in the Contract for the Contractor (or, at the Department's absolute discretion, a wholesale entity responsible for operating the network and making decisions regarding access and related terms) to be established as a separate legal entity. Any divergence from this requirement will only be in exceptional circumstances where it can be justifiably demonstrated that taking such an approach would not be value for money for Government due to its evidenced high cost or taking such an approach is demonstrated to be impractical or where it simply cannot be implemented for legal or other reasons.
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Procedure
Envisaged number of candidates: 5
Objective criteria for selection:
The Department intends to invite five Bidders to tender for each of the individual Lots.
The Department will rank the eligible Bidders based upon the overall weighted scores awarded to them in respect of their demonstrated ‘Economic and Financial Standing’ and ‘Technical and Professional Capability’, in accordance with Section 12 of the PIM.
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Once the Responses have been ranked, the Department will then follow the procedure set out in section 5.2 of the PIM to select one of the Ownership Models.
Once the Ownership Model has been selected, the Department will invite the top 5 highest ranked Bidders for each of the three Lots associated with the selected Ownership Model to the dialogue stage (and will terminate the Lots associated with the other Ownership Model).
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In the event that there are a number of Bidders with scores tied at fifth position (i.e. mathematically equal) for a particular Lot, the Department will select from those tied Bidders the Bidder(s) with the highest aggregate score across the criteria relating to questions C.1 and C.2 in the PQQ in order to select a top five.
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In the event that the aggregate scores across the criteria relating to questions C.1 and C.2 are also tied, the Department reserves the right to extend the shortlist to include all the Bidders which are tied for fifth position and which achieved the same score across the criteria relating to questions C.1 and C.2 in the PQQ so that they will be invited to participate in the dialogue.
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If there are less than five eligible or sufficiently qualified Bidders for a particular Lot, the Department may, at its absolute discretion, continue the competition by inviting the eligible and sufficiently qualified Bidder(s) to participate in the dialogue, despite the fact that there may be less than five such Bidders for the relevant Lot.
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Bidders should note that pre-qualified Bidders may be required to complete a Bidder's protocol undertaking before the start of the competitive dialogue process which will be provided as part of the ITPD. The purpose of the protocol is to secure the commitment of the short listed Bidders to the Department's policies for the conduct of the competitive dialogue procurement process and to providing an equal competitive opportunity to every short listed Bidder participating in this Procurement. The policies that will be covered by the protocol undertaking include policies on information sharing and ‘ethical walls’ / ‘Chinese walls’.
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Languages
Language: English 🗣️

Contracting authority
Identity
National registration number: N/a
Contact
Contact point: The National Broadband Plan
Address of the buyer profile: http://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/CompanyInformation/Index/326 🌏
URL for participation: http://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_s.asp?PID=95143&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE 🌏
URL for documents: http://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_s.asp?PID=95143&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE 🌏

Reference
Dates
Publication date: 2015-10-24 📅
Identifiers
Reference number attributed by the contracting authority: 2015/12
Notice number in the OJ S: 2015/S 207-375761
Additional information
ETenders
Bidders must register on the www.etenders.gov.ie website in order to get clarifications.
Background Documentation
There are various background documents referred to in the PIM (including, in particular, the High Speed Broadband Map 2020 and the various reports identified in section 3 of the PIM such as the Intervention Strategy and the Technical Report). These documents can be found at the following website address:
Show more
Source: OJS 2015/S 249-455315 (2015-12-22)
Contract award notice (2021-01-28)
Object
Scope of the procurement
Title: Telecommunications services
Short description:
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has concluded a procurement for the establishment of a high speed and future proofed broadband network with minimum service requirements under the National Broadband Plan (‘NBP’). This contract award notice is for a ‘service concession’ to design, build, operate and maintain a wholesale next generation access network and associated services within the NBP Intervention Area (‘IA’). The IA currently covers over 544,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses, and will include any new premises that are built in the IA. The NBP’s vision is to connect all Ireland’s communities by dealing definitively with the broadband connectivity challenge in rural areas by stimulating investment at a wholesale level. The NBP aims to address the ‘digital divide’ between urban areas and remote rural areas. The competitive Dialogue process commenced in 2015 using a gap funding ownership model and was concluded in late 2019.
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Total value of the procurement: 2 970 000 000 EUR 💰
Notice metadata
Document type: Contract award notice
Regulation: European Union
Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)
Code: Telecommunications services 📦
Additional CPV: Communications network 📦
Place of performance
NUTS region: Ireland 🏙️

Procedure
Type of bid: Not applicable

Contracting authority
Identity
Awarding authority name: Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Contact
Internet address: https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-the-environment-climate-and-communications/ 🌏
E-mail: derek.hickey@decc.gov.ie 📧
Phone: +353 16782000 📞

Reference
Dates
Date dispatched: 2021-01-28 📅
Publication date: 2021-02-02 📅
Identifiers
Notice number: 2021/S 022-053234
Refers to notice: 2015/S 249-455315
OJ-S issue: 22

Object
Scope of the procurement
Short description:
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has concluded a procurement for the establishment of a high speed and future proofed broadband network with minimum service requirements under the National Broadband Plan (‘NBP’). This contract award notice is for a ‘service concession’ to design, build, operate and maintain a wholesale next generation access network and associated services within the NBP Intervention Area (‘IA’). The IA currently covers over 544,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses, and will include any new premises that are built in the IA.
Show more
The NBP’s vision is to connect all Ireland’s communities by dealing definitively with the broadband connectivity challenge in rural areas by stimulating investment at a wholesale level. The NBP aims to address the ‘digital divide’ between urban areas and remote rural areas.
Show more
The competitive Dialogue process commenced in 2015 using a gap funding ownership model and was concluded in late 2019.
Title of the lot: Combined Southern Intervention Area and Northern Intervention Area under the Commercial Stimulus Model
Short description:
Means the lot for the combined Southern Intervention Area and Northern Intervention Area under the commercial stimulus model.
Description of options:
Please see Section 7.5 of the PIM which details the Department's position on optional and additional services.

Procedure
Award criteria
Quality criterion (name): MEAT as stated in the specifications
Quality criterion (weighting): 100
Price (weighting): 0

Award of contract
Date of contract conclusion: 2019-11-19 📅
Name: National Broadband Ireland Infrastructure DAC
National registration number: N/a
Postal address: 75 Merrion Square South
Postal town: Dublin 2
Postal code: D02 KP92
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Dublin 🏙️
Total value of the procurement: 2 970 000 000 EUR 💰
Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1

Contracting authority
Contact
Contact point: Derek Hickey

Complementary information
Review body
Name: The High Court of Ireland
Postal address: Four Courts, Inns Quay
Postal town: Dublin 7
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Source: OJS 2021/S 022-053234 (2021-01-28)
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