Internet services

Tender description

The London Borough of Southwark is committed to being digitally inclusive. Access to broadband services is notoriously poor in Rotherhithe and so, in line with the recent Government Digital Strategy and its own Fairer Future initiative, the Council is looking to bring superfast broadband to that area. The proportion of digitally disadvantaged residents in Rotherhithe is significant and falls well below the Government target of 95 % access to fast broadband connectivity by the end of 2017. The situation is improving but there is more work to be done to bring Rotherhithe in line with the rest of the borough. Soft market engagement to date has shown a lack of large scale plans for further investment in broadband infrastructure by any of the major suppliers in the market. To address this, the Council intends to undertake a procurement process to appoint a supplier to facilitate access to faster internet connections in the Rotherhithe area. The Council is looking to improve the access to fast broadband connectivity available in the Rotherhithe peninsula. As at April 2017, only 54 % of households in Rotherhithe (compared to an average of 82 % across Southwark) were able to access superfast broadband speeds of up to 30Mbps and 26 % (compared to 5 % across Southwark) were unable to receive broadband speeds of 10Mbps. The Council intends to bring Rotherhithe in line with the connection speeds of the rest of the borough; that is the purpose of this procurement. In order to achieve this and to best understand the options available to it, the Council intends to undertake a bidders' day at the Canada Water Library in London from 10am on 25 July 2017. The bidders' day is expected to include a plenary session, a question and answer session and one to one meetings with suppliers. The Council invites expressions of interest in the project from suppliers. Those interested in participating in the market consultation and attending the bidders' day are asked to notify their expression of interest by email to Louisa Williams at louisa.williams@southwark.gov.uk. Further information about the bidders' day will be provided on receipt of an expression of interest. The Council intends to use the market consultation to inform its decisions about the form and substance of the subsequent procurement process and it is expected that further information will be published about this once the market consultation has been completed.