The publicly funded elements of the Shared Rural Network will follow an open, fair and transparent competitive procurement process. In line with procurement law, state aid rules and government policies, there will be a role for the whole supply chain in the procurement process.
The procurement process will identify suppliers who can deliver against a number of criteria and requirements, including offering suitable value for money and an ability to support the delivery of the SRN outcomes on geographic, roads and premises coverage obligations.
Find out more on our Procurement FAQ page.
The programme plans to run a number of procurements to source certain products and services that will be required for implementation of SRN. This will be conducted in compliance with public sector procurement procedures (“Public Contracts Regulations 2015”).
All procurements are open to any organisation to respond and participate.
There were two initial procurements, managed by DMSL on behalf of the Mobile Network Operators (EE, Three, VMO2 and Vodafone).
The Contract Notice for the Acquisition, Design and Build (ADB) Framework was published in November 2021. The ADB framework is designed to appoint suppliers to provide all of the services of Acquisition, Design and Build services for telecom mast base station sites. The ADB services are expected to be provided, through call-off contracts, in different combinations or as a single solution. The deadline for tenders was 4 February 2022 and the Contract Award Notice was published on 5th July 2022.
The Contract Notice for the Managed Solution (MS) Framework was published in December 2021. The Managed Solution Framework is designed to appoint suppliers to own and provide a managed solution to deliver mobile telecoms base station site services along with the operation and maintenance of selected equipment. The deadline for tenders was 4 March 2022 and the Contract Award Notice was published on 5th July 2022.
A Contract Notice for the Transmission Framework was published in May 2022 and closed in August 2022.
A Contract Notice for the Off-Grid Power Services Framework was published in July 2022. No award was made for this procurement and it was subsequently split into two; one for the products and the other for the ongoing support services. Two non-PCR procurements are currently being run for Off-grid Products by BT/EE and another, separately, for the other three MNOs. An Off-Grid Services procurement is expected to follow early in 2024.
As Part of the SRN procurement processes, we will be using a digital platform named AWARD. We will be running all of our procurement activities on this platform and as such require all potential bidders who are interested in participating on any of the SRN procurements to register an account on the platform and also complete the supplier registration process. As part of the registration process you will be required to accept our privacy policy and fill out basic information in regards to your company and provide details for key contacts.
After registration, and before entering any other procurement processes within the AWARD platform, you will be asked to accept an NDA and Conflict of Interest Declaration. This acceptance of these is mandatory for all suppliers wishing to participate with any of the procurement on the SRN program.
Below is a guide for suppliers who are logging into AWARD for the first time as part of their interest in one of the Shared Rural Network (SRN) procurements and for the submission of associated key organisation and contact details.
AWARD SRN supplier registration project manual final
To learn more about the procurement opportunities relating to the publicly funded elements of the Shared Rural Network, please complete the below form.
