Line Search Before We Dig

A Direct Award to LinesearchBeforeUdig (LSBUD) is justified due to the platform's unique market position, critical safety function, and lack of viable equivalent alternatives.

1. Market Uniqueness and Sole Supplier Characteristics

LSBUD is the national safe digging service, protecting over 60% of Great Britain's utility infrastructure and processing around 4 million enquiries annually. Its extensive membership-160+ asset owners across electricity, gas, water, telecoms, and fuel networks-makes it the only UK platform with this level of asset coverage and integration.

No alternative platform provides comparable reach, national adoption, or instant multi utility response capabilities.

2. Regulatory and Safety Imperatives

Safe dig compliance, HSE expectations, and risk mitigation obligations rely on immediate, accurate asset data. LSBUD is specifically designed to reduce asset strikes and improve safety outcomes, offering instant AOI responses within seconds. Replicating this functionality elsewhere would introduce unacceptable delays and risks.

3. Operational Efficiency and Risk Reduction

LSBUD's ability to filter enquiries ensures NGN only receives relevant requests, preventing thousands of potential unsafe excavations and supporting faster customer responses. The proven model is already widely used by major UK utilities, including UK Power Distribution, which relies on LSBUD for asset searches.

4. High Switching Barriers

Switching would require rebuilding integrations with 160+ network operators, re establishing data sharing agreements, and implementing new operational procedures-an impractical and costly undertaking. The absence of equivalent providers creates a de facto sole supplier environment.

Conclusion:

Given LSBUD's national infrastructure role, unrivalled asset-owner participation, and essential contribution to safety and operational efficiency, a Direct Award is a proportionate, defensible route that ensures continuity, compliance, and risk minimisation.