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#h6vhtk-04868e
Published 20 Dec 2024, 18:22 GMT
Official UK Procurement Procedure

ESMCP - Mobile Services Agreement for the Emergency Services Network

Central Government
SME eligible
Air-to-ground telecommunications services
Ancillary works for telecommunications
Communications system maintenance services
+34 more
UK
Published value
Not published
Contract value exc. VAT
Submission deadline
Open opportunity
complete
Lots published
1
Lots published in procedure
Contract duration
Standard
Published delivery schedule
Electronic Sourcing Gateway:
Published portal

What is being bought & procurement scope

Procurement Scope & Specification
Tenderline summary generated from the published notice
Executive Summary: The Secretary of State for the Home Department: "ESMCP - Mobile Services Agreement for the Emergency Services Network". Published status: complete. Published value: Value not published. 1 published lot. Submission deadline not published. See the official notice for participation instructions.
Official Requirement Description:
This Award Notice is for the provision of the Mobile Services network and related services for the Home Office to support the development and implementation of the new Emergency Services Network (ESN).

Lots and requirements (1)

Procurement Structure
Published by the contracting authority
  • Lot 1 · #1
    Individual lot title not published
    cancelled
    Published valueNot published
    This Award Notice is for the provision of the Mobile Services network and related services for the Home Office to support the development and implementation of the new Emergency Services Network (ESN). ESN will replace the expensive, ageing and outdated Airwave system and provide critical communications for the emergency services. The new Mobile Services Agreement (MSA) has been awarded jointly to EE Ltd and BT Plc in the form of a tripartite agreement. The award of the contract was previously announced at pre-contract stage via a Voluntary ex ante transparency (VEAT) notice published on the Find a Tender service website on 31 July 2024 (FTS/024046-2024). The Mobile Services contract is for a term of 7.25 years plus one extension year, as well as a termination assistance period, for a maximum value of £1.85bn. The Mobile Services contract will provide mobile network coverage for emergency services mission critical communications. This contract subsumes and replaces the previous contract for mobile network services with EE which was expiring and required updating. The main services to be provided by the MS Suppliers shall include the services specified in the Original Lot 3 Agreement with certain modifications which are designed to optimise the delivery and performance of the ESN, based on experience gained during the Original Lot 3 Agreement, as set out in the afore-mentioned VEAT. Additional information: Continuation from section V.2.5): 28.3% of the services will be subcontracted to entities outside of the BT Group. Most of these subcontracted services will be provided through existing contractual relationships with suppliers that the MS Suppliers already use for their commercial network service.
    Contract period:
    Not published
    Eligibility:
    Not published

Qualification snapshot & criteria

Go / No-Go Decision Box
Criteria & entry requirements
Evaluation weighting
Award criteria weighting not published in structured data — consult the tender pack documents.
Incumbent & Market Position
Top Retained Vendor (Authority Spend)EE Ltd and British Telecommunications PlcHolds 100% of historical attributable spend
Entry requirements & qualification
  • Turnover Benchmark
    Guideline requirement: ~2× annual contract value annual turnover.Per Cabinet Office EFS 2026 & Sourcing Playbook: general proportionality cap (~2× run-rate), not an automatic disqualifier.
  • Insurance Commitments (No Upfront Purchase Needed)
    Standard public thresholds: Employer Liability (£5m), Public Liability (£5m-£10m), Professional Indemnity (£1m-£5m).✓ Commitment required upon award only — no upfront policy purchase needed to bid
  • Accreditations & Security Vetting
    Check tender pack for Cyber Essentials Plus (PPN 014 risk-proportional), ISO 27001/9001, and BPSS / SC security clearance requirements for named delivery personnel.
  • Source: Cabinet Office Sourcing Playbook & EFS Guidance.

    Buyer track record & authority intelligence: The Secretary of State for the Home Department

    Rolling 24 months
    Derived from OCDS data
    Published track record for The Secretary of State for the Home Department. These figures describe rolling 24 months, not a forecast of bids or a measure of buyer bias.
    Avg price drop
    Not availableEarly / insufficient sample
    Requires 5 comparable published awards
    Competition Density
    1Bids / Report (median)
    Single-bidder rate: 100%
    Supplier Concentration
    No estimate
    EE Ltd and British Telecommunications PlcTop vendor: 100% of attributable value
    Published spend
    £1,850,000,000Historical spend
    Cumulative GBP spend across 1 retained awards
    Methodology & coverage notes (1 active published awards)
    Coverage: 1 active published awards; 1 bid reports (which may be per lot). Supplier values exclude multi-supplier awards, frameworks and DPS, and use GBP only. They are published award values, not payments. Published-to-award variance compares single-lot, single-award, single-supplier GBP procedures with explicitly non-framework/non-DPS status; increases remain in the average. Unpublished data stays unknown. Awarded suppliers are winners, not all bidders.
    Historical Awarded Suppliers in this Category (CPV 32):
    Supplier Name
    Historic Awards
    Attributable Value
    Avg. Price Discount
    EE Ltd and British Telecommunications Plc1 win£1,850,000,000No published budget

    Sector Market Benchmark & Opportunity Radar

    CPV 32 · UK Sector Analysis
    Observed CPV-sector evidence
    Suitable for SMEs
    Prepared 7 Sept 2026, 18:20 BST
    Observed CPV-sector evidence where it exists, with clearly labelled UK all-sector context for sparse fields; this is market context, not a bid forecast.
    Median Winning Discount
    2.2%
    CPV sector evidence · 65 comparable price observations
    Typical Bids Received
    3reported bids
    CPV sector evidence · 839 published bid reports
    Decision Velocity
    ~44 days
    CPV sector evidence · median from 72 completed procedures
    Notice Stability
    1 updates
    Published terms remained unchanged
    Top Contenders in this Sector (CPV 32)
    Active commercial suppliers winning public contracts in this field
    Supplier
    Awards won
    Total awarded value
    Avg. winning discount
    1 contract£6,400,000,000At ceiling / not disclosed
    1 contract£1,850,000,000At ceiling / not disclosed
    2 contracts£1,800,000,000At ceiling / not disclosed
    3 contracts£1,602,500,000At ceiling / not disclosed
    Airwave SolutionsCRN: 03985643
    5 contracts£1,564,981,925At ceiling / not disclosed
    IBM UNITED KINGDOM LIMITEDCRN: PNQM-8935-PYGQ
    25 contracts£1,362,000,000At ceiling / not disclosed
    STS DefenceCRN: 03193298
    6 contracts£1,175,054,335At ceiling / not disclosed
    4 contracts£959,213,500At ceiling / not disclosed
    1 contract£826,750,000At ceiling / not disclosed
    17 contracts£763,316,277At ceiling / not disclosed
    Comparable Published Opportunities & Re-tender Precedents
    Ranked by multi-factor similarity score
    Historic records ranked from matching published evidence. They serve as research precedents for contract scoping, specifications, and previous awardees.
    Published procedure
    Published value
    Matching evidence
    Outsourced ICT Infrastructure Management and associated ServicesWorcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust · 3 Sept 2026, 15:47 BST
    £49,999,999
    same CPV family
    same region
    £100,000,000
    same CPV family
    same region
    Data Management Solution for Train Service Specification DataNETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED · 2 Sept 2026, 17:07 BST
    Value not published
    same CPV family
    same region
    Technical Support Services 2026Procurement for Housing · 2 Sept 2026, 14:08 BST
    £260,000,000
    same CPV family
    same region
    Emergency Lighting Inspection, Testing and Maintenance ServicesStaffordshire County Council · 7 Sept 2026, 17:01 BST
    £1,000,000
    same CPV family
    same region
    Method: tender-intelligence-v1. Empirical OCDS facts and cross-sector percentiles; missing fields remain unrecorded.SME Friendly Qualification Criteria

    Procedure terms & legal framework

    Procedure methodStandard public procedureLegal basisStandard UK Procurement RulesProcurement categoryServices
    Notice statuscompleteProcurement thresholdSub-thresholdRegulatory regimeStandard commercial regime
    Commercial structureStand-alone contract (No framework)Competition typeCompetitive procedureGPA WTO coveredUnspecified in notice
    Recurring procurementNo (One-off requirement)First published20 Dec 2024, 18:22 GMTLast source update20 Dec 2024, 18:22 GMT
    Classification (CPV)Air-to-ground telecommunications services, Ancillary works for telecommunications, Communications system maintenance services, Computer facilities management services, Data management services, Data network support services, Data transmission services, Facilities management services for computer systems development, Facilities management services for computer systems maintenance, Facilities management services involving computer operation, Helpdesk and support services, IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support, Installation of telecommunications equipment, Installation services (except software), Integrated telecommunications services, Maintenance and repair of data network equipment, Maintenance and repair of information technology equipment, Maintenance of information technology equipment, Maintenance services of telecommunications equipment, Mobile-telephone services, Networking, Internet and intranet software package, Preventive maintenance services, Radio, television, communication, telecommunication and related equipment, Services furnished by business, professional and specialist organisations, Short Message Service (SMS) services, Systems support services, Telecommunications facilities, Telecommunications services, Telecommunications system, Television broadcast transmission services
    Delivery area
    UK
    Official Registry OCIDocds-h6vhtk-04868e
    Timeline
    1. Procedure published
      20 Dec 2024, 18:22 GMT
    2. Award active
      Not published · Not published
    3. Contract active
      Signed 22 Nov 2024, 00:00 GMT · £1,850,000,000

    Commercial outcome and contract awards

    Awards (1)
    EE Ltd and British Telecommunications Plc
    Not published · Not published · active
    Subcontracting: Specialist services required to design, build and install specialist coverage solutions, 5G SA implementation, 4G/5G core network integration support, appropriate power resilience solutions, support with the Air to Ground network and specialist services to fix urgent faults at EE network sites and maintenance and support of the ESN dedicated core network. (Cont/d in additional Information section)
    Contracts (1)
    Mobile Services Agreement for the Emergency Services Network
    £1,850,000,000 · signed 22 Nov 2024, 00:00 GMT · active
    Bid statistics
    bids: 1 (lot 1)
    electronicBids: 1 (lot 1)
    foreignBidsFromEU: 1 (lot 1)
    foreignBidsFromNonEU: 1 (lot 1)
    smeBids: 1 (lot 1)
    Bidding dynamics & price outcome
    Total bids received: 1 (1 from SMEs)
    Notice history
    From official release and amendment events
    1. Official notice release published
      20 Dec 2024, 18:22 GMT
    2. Buyer information updated
      20 Dec 2024, 18:22 GMT
    3. Status changed to complete
      31 Jul 2024, 17:41 BST
    4. Official notice release published
      31 Jul 2024, 17:41 BST
    5. Buyer information updated
      31 Jul 2024, 17:41 BST

    Buyer and organisations in this procedure

    The Secretary of State for the Home Department

    Contracting authority
    Central Government
    GB-FTS-133520
    View buyer profile →

    Official Documents & Specifications (0)

    Official links; attachments are not copied
    No data
    No linked documents are published
    Procedure justification & pre-market engagement
    Official Statement
    Procedure rationale (direct award / limited competition)The Authority has entered into the Mobile Services Agreement with the MS Suppliers on the basis that regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 applies, i.e. that only the MS Suppliers can provide the services required because competition is absent for technical reasons. The Authority considers that no reasonable alternative or substitute exists, and the absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement. The reasons that the Authority considers the use of regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) applies are detailed in the ESN Mobile Services Agreement Voluntary ex ante transparency (VEAT) notice published on the Find a Tender service website on 31 July 2024 (FTS/024046-2024).