Broadband competition for event venues: round two
Guidance on how to apply, eligibility and selection criteria for the competition.
In August 2020, DCMS launched a new scheme to improve broadband connectivity in event venues, enabling them to receive full fibre access.
This scheme builds on commitments from the Tourism Sector Deal and the UK government’s International Business Events Action Plan.
The second round of the broadband competition for event venues is now open until 2nd March 2021. Applicants can apply for a portion of £200,000 funding towards the costs of digital infrastructure for their venues.
The UK government is committed to supporting the business events industry’s recovery from COVID-19. This scheme offers the chance for venues to boost their digital infrastructure and, in turn, produce stronger bids to secure future international events.
This funding is in addition to support available through the Business Events Growth Programme. Administered by VisitBritain, the programme supports organisations across the UK in their bids to host international events, as well as the development of events already taking place in the UK.
This round of the event venue broadband competition is open to event venues with a minimum capacity of 250 delegates. We are also allowing venues to demonstrate involvement in plans to bid for international events in the next five years, rather than the next year only (which was required during the first round of the competition). Applicants who applied for first round funding but were not successful and now feel they meet the new eligibility criteria are welcome to apply for second round funding by submitting a new application. All applicants will be treated equally and first round funding applications will not be considered or relevant.
The UK government is aware that one of the key factors in choosing a destination for hosting events is the quality of infrastructure, with digital connectivity playing a key role. This competition targets venues with conference facilities that traditionally bid for – or plan to bid for – events which attract international delegates. For the purpose of this competition, an ‘international event’ is one where at least 30% of the total delegates/visitors attending in person are international (non-UK) visitors.
We will fund a number of projects with a combined total of £200,000. Exact costs will vary between locations, however the average value per project will be approximately £30,000.
DCMS reserves the right to fund projects below or exceeding £30,000 based on the relevant project costs.
DCMS reserves the right not to allocate all of the funding in the event that there are insufficient qualifying event venues to take up all of the funding. Each winner will receive a portion of the £200,000 fund (subject to the additional conditions set out below).
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The procurement opportunity should be competed on the open market in accordance with relevant procurement law where applicable. Pricing needs to follow a demonstrable and consistently applied approach across the UK. DCMS reserves the right to audit the pricing if deemed necessary.
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The upgraded connectivity will be in the form of the creation of a new full fibre gigabit capable infrastructure. DCMS will only fund the eligible capital expenditure of bringing a full fibre infrastructure build to the data room NTE (network terminating equipment or equivalent).
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Any WAN / LAN related router and managed service costs are not eligible.
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The full fibre infrastructure must have open access architecture allowing additionality.
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DCMS will not provide funding for venues that can order gigabit a capable service on standard market terms with no additional construction charges (i.e. a wholesale product that is available on the retail market such that a service can be ordered from multiple Internet Service Providers or Communication Service Providers by consumers for nominal installation and set-up charges, in line with typical market offerings).
How to apply
The application process is now open and the deadline for applications is at 11:59pm on 2nd March 2021.
Award of funding will be subject to the following additional conditions:
- DCMS value for money assessment of the proposed infrastructure costs
- DCMS project assurance process
- satisfactory completion of compliant procurement
- execution of, and compliance with, a grant agreement (including invoice checks) reporting metrics - there will be some conditional information gathering, which will be required from your eventual supplier in relation to your Gigabit capable connection
Once you have started the form you cannot save and exit — it must be completed in one sitting. There are four sections. We have attached ODT and PDF versions of the questions below in order for you to be able to view all of the questions before you begin.
If you have questions regarding the competition or your application, please contact broadband.competition@dcms.gov.uk. We ask applicants to provide evidence as part of the application form. Please send PDF attachments to broadband.competition@dcms.gov.uk on the same day that you submit your application.
The broadband competition for event venues (including the participation of applicants) is subject to the legal notices as set out below.
Eligibility criteria
The eligibility criteria for this competition is set out below and, where applicable, in the application form.
- Your [or The] event venue must be in the United Kingdom
- Your event venue must have a minimum capacity of 250 delegates
- Your event venue must have bid for at least one international event within the last 3 years, where at least 30% of the total delegates/visitors attending in person were international (non-UK) visitors
- If the venue has not bid for at least one international event in the past 3 years where at least 30% of the total delegates/visitors attending in person were international (non-UK) visitors, but can demonstrate plans to do so in the next five years, they may apply
- Applicants must confirm that they will cover any shortfall if the final cost differs from the supplier quote that they will provide
- Applicants must have the capacity to, and can confirm preparedness to, stimulate demand locally for the Gigabit Voucher Scheme
- Applicants must not have received over 325,000 Special Drawing Rights (in subsidy) including the current year, over any period of three fiscal years; as allowed under Article 3.2(3) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and United Kingdom.
- The event venue will need to score a minimum number of 6 points in the 1st sift below to be eligible for funding
Sifting
The successful venues will be selected through a standardised points-based sift.
The first sift will produce a points score for each venue. Venues that score less than 6 points will not be eligible for funding. Successful venues will be chosen based on their relevant point score, starting with the highest scoring venue, until all funding has been allocated.
If the total number of scores with 6 or more points exceeds the available funding and there are tied scores, a second sift will take place in respect of the tied scores so that all scores are ranked for the purpose of the funding allocation.
1st sift:
| Prioritisation criteria | Weighting (1-5 points) |
|---|---|
| Preference will be given to venues that have hosted an international event in the past 3 years where at least 30% of attendees were international visitors. If the event venue has not hosted an event in the past 3 years where at least 30% of attendees were international visitors, preference will be given to venues that can demonstrate plans to bid for at least one event in the next five years that would attract at least 30% international visitors. |
5 |
| Preference will be given to venues that host international events which last 3+ days. | 4 |
| Preference will be given to venues outside of the Greater London area (comprising the City of London and 32 boroughs) to ensure a regional spread across the UK. | 3 |
| Preference will be given to venues in a rural classification area. | 3 |
| Preference will be given to venues that currently have sub-superfast, or non ultrafast broadband as defined in the application form. | 2 |
| Preference will be given to venues hosting international events that align with one or more of the government’s priority sectors for UK industry (detailed in application form). | 1 |
2nd sift:
| Prioritisation criteria | Weighting (1-5 points) |
|---|---|
| Preference will be given to venues with a higher capacity. | 500+: 5 400-500: 4 350-400: 3 300-350: 2 250-300: 1 |
| Preference will be given to venues able to demonstrate plans to bid for international events in the nearer future. | In the next 2 years: 5 In the next 3 years: 4 In the next 4 years: 3 In the next 5 years: 2 Beyond 5 years: 1 |
| Preference will be given to venues that are willing to match-fund a proportion (up to 50%) of the capital cost of the upgrade themselves. | 3 |
| Preference will be given to venues demonstrating the capability and capacity to manage a project and procure a full fibre gigabit capable infrastructure that can be delivered and paid for by the end of September 2021. | 2 |
In the event that a project which has been awarded funding ends up not using the funding (e.g. because the project is not implemented), DCMS reserves the right to award funding to the relevant next highest ranked applicant following the application of the above prioritisation criteria.
Broadband Competition for Event Venues – Legal Notices
The legal notices below apply to all stages of the broadband competition for event venues (the Competition), including the participation by applicants in the Competition. The Competition is managed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and Building Digital UK (BDUK), which is part of DCMS. References to DCMS below include references to BDUK.
Confidentiality
Subject to the disclosure rights below, DCMS will not disclose any information which has been provided in connection with the Competition and expressly designated as confidential.
DCMS may disclose any information which has been provided in connection with the Competition to (i) any member, director, officer, employee or agent of DCMS; (ii) any person acting as an adviser or consultant to DCMS; and (iii) any other part of the UK government.
Applicants must not disclose any information which has been provided to them by DCMS in connection with the Competition and designated by DCMS as confidential or which ought reasonably to be treated as being confidential, except that applicants may disclose such information to any third party for the purpose of developing their applications (after having obtained a similar obligation from that third party to treat such information disclosed as confidential).
Freedom of information
DCMS may be required to disclose information submitted by applicants under applicable freedom of information legislation including the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Where an applicant identifies material as commercially sensitive, DCMS will endeavour to maintain confidentiality. However, DCMS may be required to disclose such information in accordance with relevant legislation and the final decision to disclose shall sit with DCMS. If an applicant receives a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or similar legislation in connection with the Competition, this should be immediately passed on to DCMS and the applicant should not attempt to answer the request without first consulting with DCMS.
Personal data
It is acknowledged that in completing the application form and/or participating in the Competition, limited personal data will be provided to, and collected by, DCMS, who for the purpose of data protection law acts as the controller of such data.
Where the point of contact and/or the individual submitting the application form shares other people’s personal information (e.g. name of conference centre owners where this is an individual or the name of a budget holder) the individual should bring this section to the attention of those people whose information is being shared.
The data DCMS expects to collect is restricted to the contact details of the individual acting in a business capacity, who completes and submits the application form. The data is processed for the purpose of DCMS reviewing applications and operating and managing the Competition. It does this to further its public duties and tasks, comply with legal and regulatory obligations and because it is in the public and the legitimate interests of DCMS to do so. The data may be shared with local and central government.
Otherwise, DCMS will only disclose this data to:
(a) the professional advisers and consultants of DCMS;
(b) regulators (including Ofcom where applicable), law enforcement or fraud prevention agencies, courts, the police and any other authorised bodies, for the purposes of investigating any actual or suspected criminal activity or other regulatory, legal, commercial or public matters etc. The use of this data by these third parties will be governed by the third parties’ privacy statements and policies. These parties are also “controllers”, which means they have independent obligations under data protection law to protect personal data and provide relevant individuals with information as to how they process it (subject to certain exemptions). DCMS also has contracts in place with these third parties to safeguard the personal information shared with them; and
(c) other third-party suppliers for business administration or IT purposes. The use of personal data by these third-party suppliers is governed by this notice. DCMS appoints these third parties on a “processor” basis, which means they are subject to contractual and legal obligations to protect the personal data shared in line with data protection law, this section and contractual obligations put in place with these third parties to safeguard the information shared with them.
DCMS will not share the data outside of the UK. The data will only be kept for as long as necessary in order for DCMS to review applications and operate and manage the Competition.
The following rights under data protection law are available to individuals who DCMS holds data about under this section. You may contact DCMS at broadband.competition@dcms.gov.uk to exercise any of these rights and DCMS will respond to any request received promptly and in compliance with data protection laws.
Right 1 – A right to access personal data held by DCMS about the individual; Right 2 – A right to require DCMS to rectify any inaccurate personal data held about the individual; Right 3 – A right to require DCMS to erase personal data held about the individual. This right will only apply where (for example): the personal data is no longer needed to achieve the purpose it was collected it for or where the individuals objects to the way DCMS process the individual’s data (in line with Right 5 below); Right 4 – In certain circumstances, a right to restrict processing of personal data held by DCMS about the individual. This right will only apply where (for example): the accuracy of the personal data is disputed by the individual or where the individual would have the right to require DCMS to erase the personal data but would prefer that the processing is restricted instead or where DCMS no longer needs to use the personal data to achieve the purpose it was collected it for, but the individual requires the data for the purposes of dealing with legal claims; Right 5 – A right to object to the processing of personal data held by DCMS about the individual where the processing of such data is necessary in the public interest, unless DCMS is able to demonstrate, on balance, legitimate grounds for continuing to process personal data which override the individual’s rights or which are for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. DCMS encourages individuals affected by this section to contact it first if they have any queries, comments or concerns about the way data is handled. However, in the event of dissatisfaction with the handling of any request by such individual in relation to rights or concerns, affected individuals also have the right to make a complaint to the lead supervisory authority, which is the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office. Their address is: First Contact Team, Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.
For further information from DCMS on data protection and privacy or any requests concerning personal information, please contact broadband.competition@dcms.gov.uk. Any changes to this section in the future will be, where appropriate, notified by email or by way of other contact information held.
Publicity
Publicity activities with any section of the media concerning any aspect of the Competition may not be taken without the prior written agreement of DCMS (including as to the content of any such publicity). In this section “media” includes (without limit) radio, television, print, newspapers, trade and specialist press, the internet and email or mobile content accessible by the public.
Disclaimer
Whilst all Competition information (including as set out or referenced on the Competition website) has been prepared by DCMS in good faith, it does not purport to be comprehensive nor has it been independently verified. Neither DCMS nor its advisers and their respective directors, officers, members, partners, employees, other staff or agents (i) makes any representation or warranty (express or implied) as to the accuracy, reasonableness or completeness of the information provided; (ii) accepts any responsibility for the information provided or for its fairness, accuracy or completeness; and (iii) will be liable for any loss or damage of any kind (other than in respect of fraudulent misrepresentation) arising as a result of reliance on such information or any subsequent information.
Costs
Applicants must obtain at their own responsibility and expense, all information necessary for the preparation of applications and all future stages of the Competition. Applicants are solely responsible for the costs and expenses incurred in connection with the preparation and submission of their applications and all other stages of the Competition. Under no circumstances will DCMS or any of their advisers be liable for any costs or expenses borne by the applicants or their contractors or advisers in connection with the Competition.
Right to vary or cancel the Competition
DCMS reserves the right to amend the terms of the Competition, cancel the Competition at any stage, require any applicant to clarify its application in writing and/or provide additional information. Failure to respond adequately may result in the relevant application not being selected for funding.
Canvassing
Any applicant who directly or indirectly canvasses any officer, member, employee, agent or consultant of DCMS concerning the Competition will be disqualified.