712759450 BFSAI - Enhanced Business Broadband Phase 2

The Fixed Connectivity within Defence Digital Programme team , part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), intends to award a single source contract for a total of 9 months to Sure South Atlantic Ltd for the provision of a Business Broadband Service to British Forces South Atlantic Islands (BFSAI) Falkland Islands.

This contract will provide a business broadband service via a dedicated international connection with of an aggregated 450Mbps capacity to a multitude of sites to service 1084 users across the Falkland Islands.

As some of the sites require a fast connection and others can tolerate a slower connection, the sites have been prioritised as Priority 1, 2 and 3. Most sites will have mix of wired and wireless connectivity, but some priority sites are wired only.

The core distribution connections for different sites will be achieved by different means such as fibre, DSL, Point-to multipoint (PMP Radio), and via microwave radio. The authentication of these services will be in accordance with the MOD’s JSP policy, and the services will not have any direct connectivity to MOD services.

Welfare broadband is excluded from this requirement.

In accordance with regulation 4 of The Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/697) this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 as amended (in particular by SI 2019/697 and SI 2020/1450). Prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union is no longer appropriate.

It is considered that the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the UK e-notification service (as required by the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the DSPCR 2011 for Technical Reasons. This is for the following reasons.

Only Sure South Atlantic Ltd own and have access to the required mast/relay towers and infrastructure in-situ on the Falkland Islands to deliver these Business Broadband services, meaning they are the only supplier that can meet the MOD’s requirements. For another supplier to attempt to provide this Business Broadband Service would require them to build and install new towers and infrastructure across the Falkland Islands which would result in substantial and disproportionate additional time and cost implications, including an unacceptable capability gap.