Evaluation of the Shared Rural Network

The Shared Rural Network (SRN) is a £1 billion government deal with the UK’s four Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) EE, Three, VMO2 and Vodafone that will see both public and private investment in a network of new and existing phone masts closing not-spots and leveling up connectivity across every corner of the UK. It will improve mobile coverage for an extra 280,000 premises and 16,000km of roads – giving the UK the world-class digital infrastructure it deserves. BDUK requires independent research and evaluation services to support the delivery of its programmes of work in order to meet government policy objectives. As such, we are seeking to commission for an evaluation programme evaluation of the Shared Rural Network. The evaluation of the Shared Rural Network will assess the impacts of the programme in line with the established BDUK benefits realisation framework. Following the Magenta Bookprinciples and previous BDUK evaluation work, the evaluation approaches will follow a quasi-experimental approach, and will cover impacts, processes and value for money assessment of the programme: ❏ Impacts and outcomes: one of the main aims of the evaluation will be to assess the outcomes and impacts of the programme: these will include intended and unintended benefits and disbenefits, using the BDUK benefits framework as a starting point. In addition to social, economic, environmental and connectivity benefits, the market effects of the programme will also be assessed. ❏ Process evaluation: this element of the evaluation will assess how and why the outcomes of the programme occurred, its efficiency and effectiveness and wider learning for DSIT and government, including in relation to unintended issues that may have occurred. In addition, the process evaluation will assess the compliance of the programme’s implementation to meet subsidy control requirements. ❏ Value for Money: this element of the study will assess the cost-effectiveness of the programme, the economic benefits of the programme in terms of costs and benefits, and will provide insights into lessons learnt from the programme. Given the significant value of the programme and its contribution to the government’s digital infrastructure objectives, the evaluation will be agile, placing a lot of focus on interim benefits reporting, as well as dissemination and lessons learned throughout the programme. A range of methodologies (primary research, secondary analysis and reporting) will be used throughout the evaluation. We are planning on organising a supplier engagement session in the near future, with the date to be confirmed. If you are interested in finding out more about this commission please enter your contact details using the following google forms sheet - link. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/192R4pyPkncyMASvpA47SWiNbZu41u5enaoyxcx0CL74/prefill Expected value £600,000 (TBC).