Hampshire (Lot 27) Public Review Closure Notice

Question 1

1. Introduction

Accepted Answer

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.

We wish to work collaboratively with industry to maximise efficiency, minimise market distortion and achieve our objectives within a tight time frame. To do this, we first identified the areas that were not commercially viable through the Open Market Review (OMR) and Public Review (PR) stages. This allowed us to understand from suppliers if there were any current or planned investments over the next three years in broadband infrastructure (Next Generation Access broadband, ultrafast and gigabit-capable) in the identified geography. For this Lot, the identified geography lay within the Hampshire region.

The box below shows the order of processes, from OMR to procurement.

OMR
Pubic Review
Determine intervention areas for procurement
Procurement

Through these stages, BDUK classifies premises as eligible/ineligible for subsidy on the basis of their existing or planned qualifying broadband infrastructure. Details on the classification system of White, Grey, Black and Under Review and methodology can be found in section 3.2.

Premises categorised as White by BDUK during Open Market Reviews and PRs (ie eligible for subsidy) are grouped into Intervention Areas (IAs). IAs list those premises that will be targeted for subsidy in any potential procurement to follow this PR. To be clear, not all eligible premises may have been targeted for subsidy. The finalised IA will be issued to the market at the ITT stage of procurement so that suppliers can bid for subsidy to support delivery to this IA. Further information on the OMR/PR process and how we reach our conclusions can be found in the Subsidy Control Guidance document.

Question 2

2. Outcome of the preceding Open Market Review

Accepted Answer

Preceding the current PR stage, BDUK conducted an OMR for Hampshire (Lot 27) from 25 March 2021 to 22 April 2021. This OMR requested information from suppliers regarding current and planned broadband infrastructure within the next three years.

All meaningful responses to the OMR were considered and where necessary used to determine eligible premises. Suppliers who responded to the OMR were informed of the classifications applied to the existing and planned infrastructure relevant to their submission.

The key findings of the OMR are presented in the postcode-level map showing eligible premises identified through the OMR for Hampshire, and a list of eligible postcodes can be found on our website.

Question 3

3. Outcome of the PR

Accepted Answer

3.1 Background

The PR for Hampshire (Lot 27) ran from 19 August 2021 to 20 September 2021. During the PR, BDUK invited stakeholders (including broadband infrastructure operators, internet service providers, the public, and businesses) to provide feedback regarding which areas were made up of eligible premises.

Furthermore, BDUK carried out market engagement to seek feedback from suppliers about the design of the Intervention Area and Lot design, the Procurement Type (A - Local Supplier, B - Regional Supplier or C - Cross-regional Supplier) and also the capacity of the market to bid for a potential procurement.

The PR stage aimed to validate the outcome of the preceding OMR to ensure that it correctly represented the information provided by suppliers in the course of the OMR.

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 had subsequently updated their plans had a final opportunity to notify BDUK before final determinations were made on premises eligibility. All meaningful responses were carefully considered and where necessary used to determine eligible premises. BDUK also sought feedback from Hampshire Council. The finalised postcode-level map showing eligible premises is shown in Annex A of this PR Closure Note. See postcode-level map.

A finalised list of postcodes showing the White, Grey, Black and Under Review PR outcome has been published. A list of eligible (White /Under Review) premises is also available to Suppliers upon request.

The proposed IAs shown in Annex B have been submitted to BDUK’s National Competence Centre (NCC) and obtained approval to proceed. The finalised Intervention Area will be available to bidders at the forthcoming ITT stage.

Changes to Lot Area

Please note, Lot areas are not fully aligned to Local Authority (LA) boundaries. Specific Lot boundaries (and IAs) may flex during the OMR, Public Review and Pre-Procurement Market Engagement processes to enable an optimum procurement to be put to the market.

Since the Public Review closed on 20 September 2021 there have been no further amendments to the proposed Lot Boundary Area since the removal of the Isle of Wight from Lot 27 following the Public Review. The lot has been renamed as ‘Lot 27 - Hampshire’ and does not contain any Isle of Wight premises.

The PR outcomes provided below, and shown in Annex A, are consistent with the proposed Lot Boundary Area that is now going to Procurement.

3.2 BDUK Classifications and methodology for this PR

During the PR, BDUK categorised premises as gigabit White, Grey, Black or Under Review (WGBU).

Subsidy control classifications are set out below:

White - indicates premises with no gigabit network infrastructure and none is likely to be developed within 3 years^{[footnote 1]}
Grey - indicates premises where a single qualifying gigabit infrastructure from a single supplier is available or is to be deployed within the coming 3 years^{[footnote 1]}
Black - indicates premises with two or more qualifying gigabit infrastructures from different suppliers being available, or will be deployed within the coming 3 years^{[footnote 1]}
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

BDUK will only provide subsidy to target premises that have been designated as White. Premises which have been designated as Under Review may be included within the Deferred Scope of a procurement. Where this is the case, a further review will be undertaken to confirm whether they are Grey or White before they are released for build.

In accordance with the OMR/PR processes, supplier data submitted during the OMR and PR has been mapped using a methodology that protects commercially sensitive supplier data. To reflect this sensitivity we will only release White and Under Review UPRNs.

3.3 Summary of PR findings - premises eligibility

For presentational purposes only, postcode-level and UPRN level mapping has been used to present maps showing eligible premises. (NB we will only subsidise build to premises which have been designated as White - postcodes are not used to determine IAs for subsidy). For this purpose, postcodes have been classified as follows:

A postcode is White if any White premises are present.
A postcode is Under Review if any Under Review premises are present.
A postcode is Black if all premises in the postcode are classified Black.
A postcode is Grey ie all premises are Grey or a mixture of Grey and Black.

A postcode-level map summarising these premise classifications is provided in Annex A. Suppliers - please note that these maps do not show which UPRNs have been determined as White and Under Review.

The outcome of the PR is summarised in terms of White, Grey, Black and Under Review postcodes and premises 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	20,860	3,819	133,688	38,815	192,052
Under Review	10,382	3,569	63,174	120,436	0
Grey	16,759	11,214	303,911	0	0
Black	703	16,004	0	0	0
Total	48,704	34,606	500,773	159,251	192,052

3.4 Forthcoming procurement

During the PR stage for Lot 27, BDUK sought responses from the market and other stakeholders to validate the Subsidy Control map (showing Gigabit White, Grey, Black and Under Review determinations). BDUK also carried out market engagement to seek feedback from suppliers about the design of the proposed Intervention Area and Lot, the Procurement Type (A - Local Supplier, B - Regional Supplier or C - Cross-regional Supplier) and also the capacity of the market to bid for a potential procurement.

The total public funding investment has been based on the final number of premises requiring subsidy. BDUK will confirm a budget drawn from public funding for this area within the forthcoming tender documentation. Details of any restrictions on the use of public subsidy will be explained within the tender documentation.

Indicative funding allocated to this Lot is as follows:

In 27.01 (Type A) (Total of 10,528 UPRNs) approximately £14,454,000
In 27.0 (Type B) (Total of 88,660 UPRNs) approximately £104,175,000 split as follows:
- Initial Scope: 55,677
- Deferred Scope: 32,983

The procurement type selected for Lot 27, following engagement with the market and other stakeholders, is anticipated to be a single Procurement Type A - Local Supplier Contract and a Procurement Type B - Regional Supplier Contract. Two premise-level maps detailing these proposed Intervention Areas can be found in Annex B.

The Regional Supplier contract include two categories of intervention: Initial Scope, where the Regional Supplier should build as quickly as possible; and Deferred Scope where we wait and see whether commercial plans or voucher projects translate to delivery, but could then build if not.

For premises that are included in the Deferred Scope of contract, we will seek a price from the Regional Supplier, but will not authorise build unless and until they are re-classified as White. We will always either descope Under Review premises or defer build to them and we will always descope Grey or Black premises.

Hampshire’s Lot 27 forthcoming procurements will be carried out in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR2015). BDUK procurement approaches are designed to address the scale of the individual procurements. Hampshire Lot 27 procurements will be conducted in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner.

The Authority, BDUK, reserves the right to amend or withdraw the procedure for the competitive sourcing process at any time. Any amendments will be done in line with the Procurement Regulations.

Suppliers acknowledge and accept that by issuing this document (PR Closure Notice) BDUK shall not be bound to progress or conclude any related procurement activity.

Under no circumstances shall the Authority incur any liability in respect of the information contained in this supporting documentation.

Timescales

The following table summarises the indicative timescales for the procurement:

Activity	Date
Procurement Start Date (SQ Launch)	July 2022
Estimated Contract Commencement Date	April to June 2023

See Project Gigabit procurement timelines for more information.

3.5 Summary of PR findings

There are 192,052 White premises (out of 886,662) where the market does not intend to build, indicating there is a strong commitment from active suppliers in Hampshire to reach a large proportion of premises in the County.
The IAs were designed to address areas outside of where we expect the commercial sector to build to, prioritising footprints where there is an appetite for BDUK to go further, faster.
We contacted all known national and local suppliers to ask them to respond to the OMR and PR. This included working closely with Hampshire Council to ensure active and prospective suppliers were aware of the OMR and PR and could feed in their responses.

Question 4

4. Conclusion

Accepted Answer

A key output for the OMR/PR for Hampshire (Lot 27) is the map showing premises that are eligible for subsidy. Annex A sets this out at a postcode level.

From this map, BDUK developed IAs which were proposed to the market during the PPME phase. Annex B sets these out at a UPRN level.

A full list of White and Under Review UPRNs is available on request to Suppliers via ukgigabit@BDUK.Zendesk.com.

Question 5

5. Annex A – Map indicating locations of eligible premises

Accepted Answer

The below postcode level map indicates areas where those premises eligible for subsidy are located ie White areas. These eligible premises may be included within the IA. Black, Grey and Blue (Under Review) areas indicate where those premises ineligible for Subsidy are located.

Question 6

6. Annex B – Map of Proposed Intervention Areas

Accepted Answer

The maps below are of the Intervention Area that were approved following completion of Pre-Procurement Market Engagement.

Finalised Proposed Intervention Area Type B Lot 27

Hampshire Public Review outcome Intervention Area type B

Please see section 3 above for information on BDUK’s findings, contextualising how eligible premises were included in the proposed Intervention Areas.

The above premise level map indicates eligible premises that form the proposed Type B Intervention Area. This map is accompanied by a list of eligible premises which suppliers can request via ukgigabit@BDUK.Zendesk.com

Those premises which are highlighted in blue are referred to as ‘Type B - Initial Scope’

Those premises which are highlighted in red are referred to as ‘Type B- Deferred Scope’

Finalised Proposed Intervention Area Type A 27.01

Hampshire Public Review outcome Intervention Area type A

Please see section 3 above for information on BDUK’s findings, contextualising how eligible premises were included in the proposed IAs.

The above premise level map indicates eligible premises that form the proposed Type A Intervention Area. This map is accompanied by a list of eligible premises which suppliers can request via ukgigabit@BDUK.Zendesk.com.

Those premises highlighted in purple are referred to as the Type A procurement.

Question 7

7. Annex C - Post PR Closure Notice Updates - April 2024

Accepted Answer

Everything prior to Annex C within this PR Closure Notice reflects the outcomes of the PR conducted in Lot 27 from 19th August 2021 to 20th September 2021, which was published on 8th July 2022.

As confirmed in section 3.4, the procurement types for Lot 27, following extensive engagement with the market and other stakeholders, were anticipated to be a type B regional supplier contract (now named Hampshire Lot 27) and a type A local supplier contract (now named New Forest Lot 27.01). Since the publication of the original PR Closure Notice, both the Hampshire type B and New Forest type A contracts have been successfully awarded and live contracts are now in place. These procurements utilised data from the PR conducted in 2021.

BDUK launched the National Rolling Open Market Reviews (NR OMR) in January 2022. BDUK asks 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 the NR OMR is to ensure that BDUK has the most up to date information about suppliers’ existing and planned build on a national basis. This supports better strategic planning and prioritisation of Project Gigabit procurement IAs. As a result, this streamlines the previous local OMR process and minimises the risk of BDUK intervening in an area that would disrupt existing commercial plans.

Following the conclusion of the May 2023 NR OMR, we now have an updated view of commercial activity in the Hampshire Type B (Lot 27) area. As such changes to the IA have been proposed for Hampshire (Lot 27) using the May 2023 NR OMR data. This is to ensure we are targeting the correct premises for subsidy in the procurement. Further details on the outcome of the May 2023 NR OMR can be found here.

Changes to indicative funding allocated to the revised Lot 27 type B contract and the number of premises included in the IA are shown below:

Hampshire Lot 27 Type B (original versus revised funding and UPRNs)

Original	Original figure	Revised figure
Funding Allocated	£104,175,000	£110,482,068
Total number of targeted premises in IA	88,660	91,035

The changes to the IA include the addition of 247 UPRNs that were not included in the original Lot 27 PR. The additional postcodes can be found here.

A map of the updated Hampshire Type B Intervention Area will be added in due course.

There may be occasions where credible plans extend beyond a 3-year period, in that case, these may be taken into account. ↩ ↩² ↩³

Hampshire (Lot 27) Public Review Closure Notice

1. Introduction

2. Outcome of the preceding Open Market Review