Consultation outcome

Birmingham and the Black Country Public Review Request for Information

Updated 8 September 2023

New procurement to extend coverage of gigabit-capable broadband across the Birmingham and the Black Country area.

1. Introduction

The government’s ambition is to deliver nationwide gigabit-capable broadband as soon as possible. We recognise that there is a need for government intervention in the parts of the country that are not commercially viable, this is why the government has committed £5 billion for the hardest to reach parts of the country, ensuring that all areas of the UK can benefit. This will be spent through a package of coordinated and mutually supportive interventions, collectively known as Project Gigabit.

As of January 2022, we have been asking suppliers delivering gigabit-capable infrastructure to submit national data returns on a 4-monthly basis (January, May and September) to provide detailed build plans at premises level. The purpose of this National Rolling Open Market Review (NR OMR) is to ensure that we have the most up to date information about suppliers’ existing and planned build over the next 3-year period.

The January 2022 NR OMR was used as a ‘soft launch’ of the new process and as such, we invited a small number of suppliers to participate in this collection. For the May 2022 NR OMR we extended the invitation to more suppliers with the intention of including all suppliers over the coming months.

This Public Review (PR) is being launched using supplier data collected through the May 2022 NR OMR.

The PR process aims to validate the outcome of the OMR and BDUK’s mapping to ensure that it correctly represents the information provided by suppliers in the course of the OMR and to ensure that the right areas are targeted for government investment with supplier submissions being used to inform eligibility across Project Gigabit.

We invite stakeholders (including the public, businesses, internet service providers and broadband infrastructure operators) to provide us with feedback about the proposed eligible area for government investment set out in this document.

Suppliers who missed contributing to the preceding OMR, had no definitive plans and/or evidence base on which to substantiate claims at that earlier stage, or have subsequently updated their plans, now have a final opportunity to notify BDUK before the procurement stage. The premises identified by BDUK as eligible may be grouped into one or more appropriately sized Intervention Areas (IAs). The IAs will be issued to the market so that suppliers can bid for funding to support delivery to those areas.

2. Key eligibility requirements for subsidy

Read more guidance on the key eligibility requirements for the Project Gigabit subsidy.

The outcome of this PR and the preceding OMR is shown in terms of White, Grey, Black and Under Review premises. We will only subsidise build to premises which have been designated as White.

• White - indicates premises with no gigabit network infrastructure and none is likely to be developed within 3 years. Annex C provides information on the technology ‘qualifying’ as gigabit-capable

• Black - indicates premises with two or more qualifying gigabit infrastructures from different suppliers being available, or will be deployed in the coming 3 years

• Grey indicates premises with a single qualifying gigabit infrastructure from a single supplier is available, or is to be deployed within the coming 3 years

• Under Review - indicates premises where suppliers have reported current or planned commercial broadband coverage, but where claimed current gigabit coverage has not been verified, or, in respect of planned build, where evaluators are confident that gigabit infrastructure will be delivered, but some risks to delivery remain, or there are some gaps in evidence

Premises categorised as Under Review will be subject to continued monitoring and verification of supplier plans within the three-year period by BDUK. BDUK may request commitment from the supplier that significant progress is made within three years. In the event that these commercial plans fall away, these premises will be mapped as eligible and form part of the proposed IA and so eligible for intervention via this aid measure. We request that suppliers inform us regarding all plans, including plans beyond the initial three-year period.

BDUK classifies premises on the basis of their existing or planned broadband infrastructure, as set out in Annex B and Annex C. The OMR and PR data analysis of supplier’s broadband coverage claims is undertaken at Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) or premises level.

Once the PR has closed, if additional information or clarifications are required, BDUK will raise Clarification Questions with suppliers before deciding on a classification.

2.1 Treatment of BDUK vouchers data

Coverage claims received from suppliers using Vouchers funding will be evaluated in accordance with the Subsidy Control evaluation process. This means that suppliers’ claims will be assessed against the technology solution being gigabit-capable for existing infrastructure.

Typically, Vouchers premises will be categorised as follows:

• Projects, or before Voucher is issued - White (BDUK data assessment indicates a very low chance that these UPRNs will be built to)
• Voucher issued - Under Review (around 4% chance UPRN will not be delivered)
• Voucher claimed - Grey (should be gigabit-connected)

Further information on the Subsidy Control evaluation process, including treatment of other BDUK intervention data can be found within the Open Market Review and Public Review Subsidy Control Classification Guidance. BDUK intervention data includes, but is not limited to:

• Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS)
• Superfast (NBS 2012 or NBS 2016)
• Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS)
• Local Full Fibre Networks Programme (LFFN), Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme
• GigaHubs
• Other local body funded broadband infrastructure projects

3. Outcome of the National Rolling Open Market Review - Birmingham and the Black Country Lot 35

This PR is being launched using supplier data collected through the May 2022 National Rolling Open Market Review.

The NR OMR indicated that planned commercial coverage for gigabit-capable broadband would reach approximately 888,945 premises, and would therefore leave the remaining 208,438 premises without access to gigabit-capable broadband in the Birmingham and the Black Country Lot.

The outcome of the NR OMR is shown within the map (Annex D) and associated postcode list published alongside this document and shows the subsidy classifications determined for each postcode within the Birmingham and the Black Country Lot. Supplier data submitted during the OMR has been incorporated into the OMR outputs using a methodology that protects commercially sensitive supplier data.

For presentational purposes only, postcodes have been used when mapping the proposed eligible areas for this PR. (NB we will only subsidise build to premises which have been designated as White - postcodes are not used to determine IAs for subsidy).

For the purpose of mapping only, postcodes have been classified as follows:

1. A postcode is White if any White premises are present; else

2. A postcode is Under Review if any Under Review premises are present; else

3. A postcode is Black if all premises in the postcode are classified Black: else

4. A postcode is Grey if all premises are Grey or there is a mixture of Grey and Black premises

The outcome of the OMR is summarised in terms of White, Grey, Black and Under Review postcodes and premises in the Birmingham and the Black Country Lot below.

Postcode Classification	Number of Postcodes	Number of Gigabit Black Premises	Number of Gigabit Grey Premises	Number of Gigabit Under Review Premises	Number of Gigabit White Premises
White	13,044	17,380	135,869	22,608	112,322
Under Review	8,984	28,831	96,149	69,508	0
Grey	20,229	72,302	387,251	0	0
Black	6,557	151,163	0	0	0
Total	48,814	269,676	619,269	96,116	112,322

It is possible to provide suppliers (upon request and subject to the relevant data sharing agreements being in place) a UPRN list, showing the premises which have been designated as White and Under Review following the OMR.

Please contact ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com to request this information.

4. Purpose of this Public Review request for Information

This PR defines the proposed eligible areas, as determined during the OMR, to enable all interested stakeholders (including the public, businesses, internet service providers and broadband infrastructure operators) to comment on those proposals.

The outcome of the OMR is shown within the map in Annex D and associated postcode list published alongside this document.

As part of this PR, we will request and then evaluate any further responses in order to validate the eligibility of the premises for government subsidy. During the evaluation exercise, we may engage with suppliers further to discuss and confirm their coverage claims. Following this, we will be able to determine the premises to be included in procurements.

The steps below shows a summary of how the PR process works:

1. BDUK issues Public PR.

2. Stakeholders review proposed eligible areas for intervention. BDUK response to clarification questions (as required).

3. Stakeholders submit feedback on the PR.

4. BDUK reviews and evaluates the feedback. BDUK investigates and discusses feedback with respondent (as required).

5. BDUK finalises premises classification and published outcome of PR.

6. PR process concludes.

Suppliers wishing to provide coverage data should contact BDUK and will follow a process similar to the one run for the OMR.

This PR will take place over the period of at least one month, and once concluded will confirm the eligibility of premises for procurements. The full details of these procurements will follow the conclusion of this PR.

The steps below show the order of processes, from OMR to procurement:

1. OMR.

2. PR.

3. Determine intervention areas for procurement.

4. Procurement

All meaningful responses to the PR will be carefully considered and where necessary, used to determine eligible premises. The final eligible area maps and a summary report confirming details of the changes will be published on the gov.uk website after the close of the review period. The finalised eligible premises and proposed IAs will then be submitted to BDUK’s National Competence Centre (NCC) for approval against the UK Subsidy Control Regime. The responses and output from the PR will therefore help us gain further confidence that the proposed interventions are in areas that are eligible for subsidy, ie, areas which are not commercially viable and require government intervention to address market failure. Supplier submissions will be used to inform eligibility across Project Gigabit.

5. Lot area

Please note, Lot areas are not fully aligned to local authority (LA) boundaries, and in some cases a small number of premises from neighbouring LA areas may be included in the scope of a specific Lot. Suppliers should also note that the specific Lot boundaries (and IAs) may flex during the OMR, PR and Pre-Procurement Market Engagement processes to enable an optimum procurement to be put to the market. Where this occurs then BDUK will ensure that it is communicated in a transparent manner in order to remain consistent with the principles of the Gigabit Infrastructure Scheme. Therefore if you have existing network coverage, or plan to build infrastructure in neighbouring LA areas, then please provide details in your response to this PR.

Please refer to the postcode map in Annex D for a visualisation of the boundary for this Lot.

6. The role of local bodies

BDUK will work with the relevant local bodies to answer questions, evaluate supplier responses, assess data accuracy, manage the build phase and engage with the local community. Sharing the premises data set out within each location and IAs, during the OMR and PR stages, will help us gain further confidence that the proposed interventions are eligible for subsidy.

BDUK will maintain a central dataset and will work with authorities to assess and review the data in the areas relevant to the respective local body and IAs. BDUK will be responsible for the data and local bodies are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement prior to gaining access to the data.

This Request for Information is being carried out independently of any activities that local bodies may be undertaking, for example, under the National Broadband Scheme 2016 known as the Superfast Programme.

7. Procurement and commercial approach

BDUK has undertaken extensive early market engagement in relation to procurement for interventions. This engagement has included consultation on the programme design, different potential target areas, technical specification (including wholesale access), procurement types and contractual terms. Feedback from broadband suppliers and other stakeholders has been taken into account in all of these areas.

Procurements will be carried out in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015). BDUK procurement approaches are designed to address the scale of the individual procurements. The procurements will be conducted in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner.

7.1 Forthcoming procurement - Birmingham and the Black Country

BDUK will budget an appropriate amount of public funding from the Project Gigabit Programme, based on the final number of premises requiring subsidy for this area, at the procurement stage.

The budget will be specified within the Invitation To Tender (ITT) documentation, following the PR. Details of any restrictions on the use of public subsidy will be explained in the tender documentation. It is BDUK’s intention to procure gigabit-capable solutions – capable of achieving a minimum of 1Gbps download speed - to the premises identified as in scope for subsidy.

Please note, the final list of premises in scope for subsidy will be issued with the ITT and is not finalised at this stage.

Final Project Gigabit IAs may be a subset of the premises classified as White in the subsidy assessment and will be subject to BDUK overlays, including other active/planned BDUK interventions (eg Superfast).

Once the review is closed and BDUK has finalised the IA, an ITT will be issued within approximately 6 months via a procurement portal, for suppliers to bid for the opportunity to deliver extended gigabit-capable broadband coverage.

8. Participating in and responding to this Public Review

BDUK’s goal is to ensure the parts of the country that need government investment are accurately targeted. Each contributor to this PR will help to optimise the use of public subsidy in helping to provide faster and better connectivity across all parts of the UK.

Please respond if you have information to contribute to this data validation process or can provide your views about the accuracy of data and mapped areas by reporting where premises have existing or planned gigabit-capable broadband coverage. If you are a supplier and did not respond to the recent May NR OMR and have existing or planned network coverage, please submit your plans so that public subsidy can be targeted more accurately and over-building commercial infrastructure can be avoided. Where suppliers have credible plans that extend beyond the three year horizon then these should be included in your submission to BDUK. All planned build should be supported with detailed evidence as set out in the submission requirements section of this RFI.

Please note that the information you provide in your response will be treated as confidential, albeit that it may be necessary to share some/all of your response with our professional advisors and/or local bodies, Ofcom and BEIS Subsidy Control Branch.

For information regarding what to expect when you contact BDUK within the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and provide us with your personal information, please read the DCMS privacy notice.

8.1 Responses from residents, businesses and other stakeholders

For residents and businesses, responses should relate to whether you have, or expect to have gigabit-capable broadband service coverage in the next three years (and beyond). Any information provided in response to this PR should as a minimum include (but need not be limited to) the UPRN, or the area (ie postcode) that the submission relates to and the nature of the concern.

For all submissions, BDUK would be grateful if you could confirm the following:

• your organisation’s name (if applicable)
• your organisation’s, or residential address (if applicable)
• your name
• position
• contact telephone number
• email address

Members of the public and other respondents should follow the above format and email their submissions to ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com.

8.2 Responses from suppliers

BDUK requests information and supporting evidence from suppliers in relation to the presence of broadband infrastructure within the project area. We wish to hear from all internet service providers and broadband infrastructure operators - particularly in relation to the proposed mapped eligible areas shown with the Annex D map and associated postcode list.

Please tell us about your:

• Broadband infrastructure - existing
• Plans for developing/improving broadband infrastructure
• Interest in bidding for projects and capability to scale

For suppliers wishing to provide a coverage response to this PR please see the following sections, ‘Making a Data Response’ and ‘Submission Requirements’.

Specific feedback on the procurement approaches can be supplied to the supplier relationship team via bduksuppliers@dcms.gov.uk, where you may, for example, want to tell us separately about your capacity to make a bid.

9. Making a data response

Please provide information at premise (UPRN) level on, and supporting evidence for, any of your current or planned investment in broadband infrastructure in the Birmingham and the Black Country area using the templates issued.

To submit a data response, please follow the steps below, as well as referring to the guidance provided in Annex A:

1. Sign the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA) Contractor Licence Agreement, which will be required before downloading the data. Please return this, as soon as possible to ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com. If you have already signed a licence agreement with BDUK through previous OMRs/PRs, there is no need to send this through again.

2. Once you have done this, we will provide you with a link to our secure file transfer portal where you will be able to download the response templates.

3. You may seek clarification, on making a data response, at any time from 4 October 2022 to 4 November 2022. Please send these questions to us at ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com.

4. You should make your data submission to us via the secure file transfer portal. Please upload the data response template and any further supporting evidence you feel you should send.

5. Please do not assume that we will use a previous submission for this RFI. If you wish for a previous submission to be treated as your return for this RFI, please get in touch to confirm this.

6. Please include all current and planned premises coverage, including premises that are outside of the geographic areas, and/or outside of the premises base provided in the template files in Annex A.

7. Please include any existing or planned infrastructure you have gained with assistance from government subsidy for example: Vouchers, Superfast (NBS 2012 or NBS 2016), GIS and GigaHubs (Local Full Fibre Networks and Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programmes).

Please note that the data you provide in your response will be treated as commercially confidential, albeit that it may be necessary to share some/all of your response data with our professional advisors and/or local bodies, Ofcom and BEIS Subsidy Control Branch.

Please ensure that you engage with us as soon as possible to confirm whether you would require BDUK to put in place a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) enabling us to share data between each other as part of this PR process (if you have already signed a NDA in place with BDUK through previous OMRs/PRs, this is not required again).

It should also be noted that it is a requirement to use this information to produce maps to define White, Grey, Black and Under Review areas for gigabit-capable broadband. However, the published maps will show the aggregated White, Grey, Black and Under Review broadband areas, not the data provided on a per-operator basis. The final maps and UPRNs that will be used for procurement purposes will be published shortly after the conclusion of this PR and once approved by the NCC.

If you have any questions about any of the above, please contact ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com.

10. Submission requirements

Responses to this PR RFI must include the following:

1. A data submission that should cover your current and planned premise coverage (ie premises served by your network, or planned to be served by your network) at UPRN level, as per the format outlined in Annex A:
   
   • please include all current and planned premises coverage, including premises that are outside of the geographic areas, and/or outside of the premises base provided in the template files
   
   • please include any existing or planned infrastructure you have gained with assistance from government subsidy for example, Vouchers, Superfast, Gigahubs or GIS etc
   
   • additional guidance can be provided to suppliers if required, please contact ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com for support

2. An up to date supporting evidence pack

3. BDUK would also like to hear from operators their views as to the types of wholesale access products they would like to see offered on any newly created subsidised network infrastructure. This information may inform the intervention design. Please note that we are not obliged to include these products in the ITT.

Please note that where your coverage claims are for gigabit-capable networks, then your response detailing your proposed network design and architecture must consider the technical definition as outlined in Annex C.

10.1 Evidence to demonstrate how planned investments are credible

There are three essential areas against which BDUK will evaluate your planned coverage claims to ensure the overall credibility of your planned investment.

Our assessment will be based on the suite of evidence you provide BDUK in the supporting evidence pack and will include:

• technology - whether the technology you have deployed and intend to deploy is gigabit-capable and meets the technical criteria as outlined in Annex C: Technical definition

• deliverability - whether your deployment plans are in line with the phases/premises passed outlined in your business plan, with the key build stages and processes outlined

• commercial/financial viability - whether you have viable commercial plans such as sufficient access to capital and whether the drawdown of your funds aligns with your deployment plan and build programme

The information you provide should be consistent across these elements to support a joined-up evaluation of your responses.

In assessing whether planned investments are credible, BDUK may:

• review the business plans and calendar deployment plans to ensure these are consistent and in sufficient detail for each phase of the planned build

• require evidence to demonstrate credible and plausible character of the planned investment which as a minimum should include a business plan, a detailed calendar deployment plan, evidence of adequate financing, consideration of risk and proposed technical architecture

• ensure calendar deployment plans include the key build stages and when suppliers expect to undertake significant activities within their build programme such as design, surveying, acquisition, network build, network installation etc or the key processes involved in your build plan approach for design phase, survey phase, road notices/ wayleaves etc

• test that funding availability is sufficient for each phase of the planned build and that the capital allocated for the specific OMR area is sufficient and is consistent with the deployment plan

• review the terms of any financing arrangements and any dependencies and assumptions associated with the financing including repayment terms, KPIs, expected ROI, dependency on public subsidy such as GBVS vouchers or regional subsidy schemes

• ensure that the network design and dimensioning information provided is in line with the projections made in the Business Plan regarding customer connections and growth expectations

Further information is included in Annex B and the supporting evidence pack

If your future network plans are entirely reliant on BDUK subsidy/interventions (eg Vouchers),it may not be necessary to provide a complete set of supporting evidence alongside your data submission. As set out within the Subsidy Control classification guidance planned voucher build will be classified as White unless a voucher has been issued or claimed in which case it will be classified as Under Review and Grey respectively. Classification of voucher build will be based on BDUK held data of voucher statuses.

In all cases please do provide us with a full data submission.

11. Date for return

Please submit responses to this PR by the closing date of 4 November 2022 at 5pm. BDUK plans to publish the final maps showing the finalised IA, following the close of the assessment and evaluation period.

This will be followed by the launch of the ITT to suppliers, enabling them to bid for the opportunity to fulfil a new contract to deliver the extended coverage.

Thank you.

BDUK Case Management Team

12. Annex A: Data submission format

12.1 Introduction

BDUK requires certain fields of data for each pertinent UK address as identified by the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) in order to monitor the current and future delivery of Gigabit broadband-capable services. This is done by requesting data on current and future connections from relevant suppliers. The below describes the format of the BDUK request file and how to format the data to return to us. If you require any additional support, guidance or clarification with this, please get in touch with us at ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com.

12.2 UPRN list files

We have supplied ten blank regional templates showing the UPRNs across the nation that we consider relevant to the PR process. The purpose of providing this information to you is to present the UPRNs that we recognise and the format of the submission you should provide to us. Your response does not need to align with this baseline however any premises in your submission which do not align to will be filtered out in analysis. If you are likely to re-use your submission for future OMR/PRs we would actively encourage you not to align with our baseline as it may change over time. ^{[footnote 1]}

These UPRNs have been sourced from Address Base Premium Epoch 95, from Ordnance Survey published August 2022. Even though we are, at this stage, specifically focussing on data for the area listed above, for the purposes of our broadband planning we would be grateful for your full broadband plans, including premises that are outside of these geographic areas, and/or outside of the premises base provided in the template files.

Please do not pre-filter your data based on the template files, instead please provide us with your entire UPRN dataset.

If you are using the template files as the starting point for your return, please remove any UPRN rows which are not part of your current or planned network.

12.3 Explanation of required fields

The information that we provide against each property/premises is as follows:

Field Name	Description	Format
strUPRN	The UPRN (see below) prepended with “STR”, this is a mitigation against certain spreadsheet tools treating the UPRN as a large number and removing significant digits	Text
UPRN	The unique property reference number	Number
Single_Line_Address	Comma delimited single line address (eg 1, Acacia Avenue, Anytown)	Text
Postcode	Standard postcode	Text
Local_Authority_District	The local authority district	Text
Longitude	Longitude in the decimal degree format	Number
Latitude	Latitude in the decimal degree format	Number

The information that we ask for against each property / premises is as follows:

Field Name	Description	Format
Current_Technology	(Complete this field for UPRNs which are RFS only) The technology you use for supplying that particular premises, examples of this could be ADSL, FTTP, FTTC etc This must be your infrastructure only, we don’t require you to tell us about any other known technology serving the UPRN	Text
Current_Max_Download_ Speed	(Complete this field for all UPRNs with ‘Current_Technology’) The maximum download speed in Mbit/s that you are able to supply to this property. This should be a positive number only. Please do not add any extra information. For example, if the current technology listed provides a download speed of 1 gigabit, please enter ‘1000’ not ‘1000Mbps’ or ‘1Gb’. This is the maximum download speed that the technology is capable of, rather than the actual speed that the UPRN is taking up at a given time.	Number
Current_Max_Upload_Speed	(Complete this field for all UPRNs with ‘Current_Technology’) The maximum upload speed in Mbit/s that you are able to supply to this property. This should be a positive number only. Please do not add any extra information. For example, if the current technology listed provides a upload speed of 1 gigabit, please enter ‘1000’ not ‘1000Mbps’ or ‘1Gb’. This is the maximum upload speed that the technology is capable of, rather than the actual speed that the UPRN is taking up at a given time.	Number
Future_Technology	(Complete this field for UPRNs that you plan to connect only) The technology you intend to use for supplying that particular premises, examples of this could be FTTP, FTTC etc This must be your infrastructure only, we don’t require you to tell us about any other known technology serving the UPRN. If you are upgrading Current Coverage the technology should not match Current_Technology.	Text
Future_Max_Download_Speed	(Complete this field for all UPRNs with ‘Future_Technology’) The maximum download speed in Mbit/s that you intend to be able to supply to this property.This should be a positive number only. Please do not add any extra information. For example, if the current technology listed provides a download speed of 1 gigabit, please enter ‘1000’ not ‘1000Mbps’ or ‘1Gb’. This is the maximum download speed that the technology is capable of, rather than the actual speed that the UPRN is taking up at a given time.	Number
Future_Max_Upload_Speed	(Complete this field for all UPRNs with ‘Future_Technology’) The maximum upload speed in Mbit/s that you intend to be able to supply to this property.This should be a positive number only. Please do not add any extra information. For example, if the current technology listed provides a download speed of 1 gigabit, please enter ‘1000’ not ‘1000Mbps’ or ‘1Gb’. This is the maximum upload speed that the technology is capable of, rather than the actual speed that the UPRN is taking up at a given time.	Number
Date_of_Future_Rollout	(Complete this field for all UPRNs with ‘Future_Technology’) This should be the Ready for Service date for the premises. The date at which RSPs can offer products or services to the individual premise. This should not be the date that build commences. All Future Coverage premises should have an RFS date in this column. (Please always ensure that you check that the Date_Of_Future_Rollout’ column has a date in the future at the time of your submission).	DD/MM/YYYY
Delivery_Phase	(Complete this field for all UPRNs with ‘Future_Technology’) The planned phase for any future rollout which each UPRN shall form part of, eg Phase 1/Phase 2 etc, Tranche 1/Tranche 2 etc, Region 1/Region 2 etc These phases should align to your Calendar Deployment Plan and should correlate and be consistent with the information contained in your supporting evidence pack. Please include context regarding each delivery phase in your supporting evidence such as the risks and dependencies for the successful delivery of each phase and the mitigations/arrangements that you have in place to address these risks; a description regarding your resourcing plan for each phase; key milestones within each phase and the subsequent activities/timeframes to achieve RFS.	Text
Design_Stage	(Complete this field for all UPRNs with ‘Current_Technology’ or ‘Future_Technology’) The current phase of your future coverage such as: ‘1. Awaiting HLD’ - High Level Design (HLD) has not yet been completed. ‘2. HLD complete’ - HLD/area level plan has been completed. However, Low Level Design (LLD) work has not yet been completed or is in progress. ‘3. LLD complete’ - Low Level Design (LLD) and survey work has been completed, however, subcontractors/build partners, or in-house resources to complete the network build, are still to be appointed. ‘4. Build team appointed’ - Subcontractors / build partners or if applicable in-house civil resource has been appointed and commissioned to start the network build in accordance with the LLDs. All the necessary planning, acquisitions and wayleave agreements are finalised to allow the network to be constructed. ‘5. In build’ - Network build is in progress, however premises are not yet able to take up a service. ‘6. RFS’ - Network build and end-to-end testing is complete and premises are Ready for Service (RFS) ie RSPs are able to offer products or services to the individual premise Note: If you are intending to use different descriptions to those above, or if you have different interpretations of the above categories, please include full explanations of each field entry in your supporting evidence submission to accompany this data submission.	Text
Funding_Stage	(Complete this field for all UPRNs with ‘Future_Technology’) The current status of funding allocated to the UPRN. If your funding allocation is linked to your Delivery_Phase please reflect that in your data and explain that in your supporting evidence. Please be aware that BDUK’s assessment of supplier returns will be based, in full, on the evidence requested in Annex B. As such, we cannot guarantee that we will accept how suppliers have categorised the status of their funding position. Field entries to use: ‘1. No funding planned or committed’ - While you may be planning to deliver to this UPRN, the funding is not yet in place to do so and/or you are seeking funding. ‘2. Funding planned, but not committed’ - You have in principle funding agreed to deliver to this UPRN, but the funding is not immediately available, requires further decisions such as Board approval, or is dependent on (for example) performance metrics. ‘3. Funding committed’ - Funding has been identified and has been allocated to delivery of this UPRN. There are no further conditions around drawing down or using funding and the funding is ring-fenced solely for the delivery of associated premises. This should be explained clearly in your financial plan, which should be provided as part of your Annex B: Supporting evidence.	Text
Public_Intervention	(Complete this field for all UPRNs with ‘Current_Technology’ or ‘Future_Technology’) Please define if coverage has been or is planned to be connected using a public intervention. ‘Yes’ will be marked when a premises is dependent on funding from BDUK’s Vouchers, Gigahubs, Superfast, LFFN, RGC or Gigabit infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) programmes, or when an existing service was built with funding from one of those Programmes. Other public interventions (such as Local Authority schemes) should also be acknowledged and marked as a ‘Yes’ here. Further explanation should be provided as part of your Annex B: supporting evidence. An entry of ‘No’ would indicate that the premises is planned to be built, or has already been built, entirely through commercial funding with no dependency on public intervention. Evidence of this funding should be provided in your supporting evidence.	Yes / No

12.4 Extra columns

Aside from the standard columns above, you may wish to add additional columns to provide further additional information about your network. If this is the case, please add additional column(s) at the end of your data return and provide clear explanation in your supporting evidence of what these columns indicate.

13. Annex B: Supporting evidence

In order to substantiate your existing and planned commercial coverage we require a complete and up to date supporting evidence pack alongside your submission.

There are three essential areas against which BDUK will evaluate to ensure overall viability of your planned investment:

technology - whether the technology you have deployed and intend to deploy is gigabit-capable and meets the technical criteria as outlined in Annex C: Technical definition

deliverability - whether your deployment plans are in line with the phases/premises passed outlined in your business plan, with the key build stages and processes outlined

commercial/financial viability - whether you have credible commercial plans such as sufficient access to capital and whether the drawdown of your funds aligns with your deployment plan and build programme

Please note - we do not expect you to produce additional tailored material to support your response. We believe you should have sufficient documentation readily available that can enable us to make a determination of credibility. Suppliers should provide supporting evidence in two ways:

1. A completed supporting evidence pack (template provided by BDUK) containing responses to each evidence request. Your responses may refer us directly to supplementary documentation (described below).

2. Supplementary documentation to substantiate your coverage claims such as network diagrams, business plan, deployment plans etc.

The supporting evidence you provide should correlate with your data coverage submission (Annex A).

An area to store supporting documentation, alongside your supporting evidence pack, will be provided within the secure file portal set up by BDUK when making your submission. Please contact ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com to confirm your intent to respond to this PR and we will provide you with access to the secure file portal.

Once evaluated, your supporting evidence pack will be baselined and can be used for subsequent responses to Open Market Reviews and/or PRs. For future submissions, suppliers should review and refresh the information provided in their pack but do not need to submit a new pack to support their claims. The document is a live document which can be updated for each submission in line with any changes to a supplier’s corresponding data submission (Annex A).

Please see below an outline of the process:

1. Supplier confirms intent to respond to OMR and/or PR and BDUK sets up a secure file portal.

2. Supplier uploads their data coverage file alongside a completed supporting evidence pack and full suite of information. This is required for all suppliers who have not completed the supporting evidence pack previously.

3. BDUK assesses the evidence provided and raises clarification questions where necessary. Following the determination of supplier’s treatment, the supporting evidence pack for that submission is ‘baselined’.

4. BDUK archives the baselined version of your supporting evidence.

5. When responding to a subsequent OMR and or PR the supplier provides a new data coverage file and reviews the baselined evidence pack. The supplier will either:
   
   -Verify that the supporting evidence pack remains valid and no changes have been made to the information within; or
   
   -Amend some or all of the responses in line with any updates to coverage plans and refresh supporting documentation which is no longer valid. Any changes to the supporting evidence pack must be recorded accordingly.

Please note that the process outlined above is in effect as of 5 September 2022. The supporting evidence pack referenced in this Annex supersedes the previously issued Annex B: Supporting Evidence Template. Prior to September 2022, suppliers were asked to provide a fresh set of supporting information and a completed supporting evidence template for each new submission. This new process aims to reduce the effort required for suppliers to provide updates to their submission on a regular basis.

Please note that suppliers who responded to OMRs or PRs prior to September 2022, using the previously issued supporting evidence template, are still required to complete the new supporting evidence pack. While we do understand this may represent some duplication of work we hope that by moving across to this new format it will reduce supplier burden in the long run.

Additional guidance on how to complete the supporting evidence pack will be provided when setting up the secure file portal.

If you require any additional support, guidance or clarification with any of this, please get in touch with us at ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com.

If your future network plans are entirely reliant on BDUK subsidy/interventions (eg Vouchers) it may not be necessary to provide a complete set of supporting evidence alongside your data submission. Please contact ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com if you are unsure.

14. Annex C: Technology definition

The technical definition is given in the Subsidy Control Guidance Section of the BDUK website.

The key areas are:

• section 8.6 of the detailed overview of the Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy scheme
• The Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy Worked Example - Assessment Form for Gigabit Capable Solutions. Please note, this worked example shall be used principally for ITT evaluation purposes, but may be used for other purposes (eg market review) and therefore may be of use when responding to this market review.

Even if you are familiar with the definition, you should re-check it for each return, as it may change from time to time.

15. Annex D: Map to show intervention area

The map below is an image of our current draft intervention map. The postcode level data has also been published alongside this document.

Please note, following closure of the PR, a new version of this map and premises lists will be produced and published on gov.uk based on the latest dataset issued with this PR (please see Annex A for details) and market feedback gathered during the PR process. This is known as a PR closure notice.

16. Annex E: Subsidy control

Following the UK’s departure from the European Union on 31 January 2020, the award of public subsidy needs to take account of World Trade Organisation rules and any international commitments made in free trade agreements. BDUK considers that this proposed subsidy falls under the subsidy control principles in Section 3 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) agreed between the European Union and UK government on the 24th December 2020. The TCA places an obligation on both the UK and EU to have an effective system of subsidy control with independent oversight.

BDUK will ensure that it meets these subsidy principles in awarding public subsidy for gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure (for example, by ensuring subsidy is designed to target failure in the market to achieve full UK coverage while minimising negative effects on competition). Public subsidy will be targeted to limit the risks of crowding out private investment, altering commercial investment incentives and ultimately distorting competition. Projects will continue to be procured under the Public Contracts Regulations (2020), to help meet our subsidy control requirements.

Suppliers have the opportunity during the OMR and PR stages, to share with BDUK any firm and credible investment plans that may mean that public subsidy will not be warranted.

Requesting a review of a subsidy award

Under UK subsidy control requirements, anyone can request for a review about the award of subsidy. Requests must be submitted no later than one month from the date of the award of the subsidy for Birmingham and the Black Country. The award of subsidy will follow the procurement and contract award and BDUK’s NCC will consider requests submitted within the one month timescale, under the terms of the TCA.

This proposed award will be published by the Department of Business Energy Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The process for making such a request will be published here too.

More information about the UK’s Subsidy Control regime can be found on our government website.

1. The Response template will be released to providers once BDUK has received the signed Ordnance Survey Public Sector Contractor Licence form. UPRNs that we do not have full geographical details for will be published in a file labelled ‘No Region’ for completeness. ↩