INVITATION TO TENDER FOR THE DESIGN AND BUILD OF A 5G NETWORK IN BASING VIEW, BASINGSTOKE

Background and Scope of the Project

As part of its economic growth and digital innovation agenda, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council ("the Council") was looking to work with the private sector on the design and build of a 5G network in Basing View, Basingstoke's central business district.

The council's ambition is to create a comprehensive 5G ecosystem focused on commercialisation where businesses will be able to access 5G connectivity to develop, trial and bring to market new products, services and applications. The project is supported by the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership and the University of Surrey 5G Innovation Centre.

To enable the delivery of this vision, the council was looking to work with industry partners to design and build a 5G network providing indoor and outdoor connectivity in Basing View and deploy 5G services to include: a core network within one building at the eastern end of the park, outside to the extent of Lower Basing View and to selected rooms within nearby buildings via rooftop, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) distribution (locations to be confirmed following design).

The project will be on a public/private partnership basis aiming to achieve mutual benefit and funded by direct investment from the public and private sector with the Council providing 50% of the funding, this being capped at £1.25million, which will be provided to the successful Tenderer to cover capital costs at the build and install stage.

The final appointment of the successful Tenderer will be split into two key stages:

1. Design of the network. The successful Tenderer being required to complete the design of a proposed network, utilising their expertise and experience to propose the most viable solution for the available funding. Upon completion of the design phase the proposal will be reviewed, and a decision made as to whether the build stage shall commence.

Should the final design not be approved as a viable scheme the Councils agreement with the successful Tenderer shall terminate at this stage.

The successful tenderer shall be solely responsible for funding this first stage of the project, seeking and obtaining all relevant permissions and approvals to allow the resulting build to commence, including negotiating with the relevant building stakeholders (owners, tenants) for proposed locations within the final design.

2. Build of the network as per the approved design (if approved). This stage to include the purchase of all required equipment and installation to complete the network build. The 50% match funding provided by the Council shall only be available at this, second stage of the project.

This project is seen as the start of Basingstoke's 5G journey. The town is expected to see significant growth over the next five to ten years, which could open up further potential opportunities for public/private partnership working, any future opportunities being subject to relevant procurement exercises.

The 5G Living Lab will be located in Basing View, the town's central business district, which is home to over 100 companies mostly from the professional and financial services, digital tech, cybersecurity and life sciences sectors. Both global companies and innovative SMEs have chosen Basing View as their location and the park is undergoing a multi-million pound regeneration to make it the premier town centre business location in the south east.

The 5G Living Lab project could act as a demonstrator for industry partners to showcase technology, expertise and development capabilities and could also help foster innovation by providing a range of use cases including smart city and Internet of Things applications, immersive retail and leisure, AR and VR, mobility and transport and digital health. Through its strong focus on commercialisation and business engagement, the project can also give access to innovative start ups and businesses helping to develop further 5G innovation and capabilities.

Following the design and build phase of the 5G network, ownership and on-going maintenance and upgrades of the network will remain with the industry partners. This will provide on-going monetisation and commercialisation opportunities for the private sector partners to generate income from the network to ensure its longer-term sustainability.

Technical capabilities and specifications:

The successful Tenderer will be expected to deploy 5G services likely within Belvedere House (preferred location), outside to the extent of Lower Basing View and to selected rooms within up to two nearby buildings (to be confirmed) via rooftop, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) distribution. The primary use cases for this network will be for VR/AR and other graphical or video related application. However, due to the focus on commercialisation of 5G and the level of business engagement and expected use of the network and the regional key sector concentrations, the list of use cases will be significantly more extensive and will cover a range of areas such digital health, mobility and transport, financial services, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and gamification.

The deployment should also allow for loose internet working with an already deployed SigFox, Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) network and the potential to use Cellular IoT capabilities such as Narrow Band IoT (NBIoT) and massive/enhanced Machine Type Communication (mMTC/eMTC).

Funding and delivery model:

The project may require several industry partners working together to provide the relevant expertise and equipment to design and build the 5G network and suppliers can come together as part of a consortium. Responses to this Invitation to Tender may be made by a lead bidder on behalf of the consortium. The council would be willing to enter into a delivery contract with the successful lead Tenderer who would take ultimate responsibility for managing the overall delivery of the project and the consortium of partners.

The project will be delivered on a public/private pa…