Market Testing Exercise - 5G Living Lab - Provision of 5G Network and Connectivity Basingstoke

Description

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council would like to establish a 5G Living Lab in Basing View, Basingstoke's central business district, and is interested in working with industry partners to jointly develop and implement the project. This prior information notice aims to test the market and assess whether there is interest from the private sector in working in partnership with the council to deliver the project. The council's ambition is to create a comprehensive 5G ecosystem focused on commercialisation where businesses will be able to access 5G connectivity to develop, trial and bring to market new products, services and applications. The project is supported by the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership and the University of Surrey 5G Innovation Centre. To enable the delivery of this vision, the council is looking to work with industry partners to design and build a 5G network providing indoor and outdoor connectivity in Basing View and deploy 5G services including a core network within one building at the eastern end of the park, outside to the extent of Lower Basing View and to selected rooms within nearby buildings via rooftop, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) distribution (locations to be confirmed). The detailed technical requirements and specifications would be developed in partnership with private sector partners. The project would be on a public/private partnership basis aiming to achieve mutual benefit and funded by direct investment from the public and private sector where partners invest 50% each in the project. Please note the contract value of £2.5 million is based upon a total estimate with 50% public sector funding of up to £1.26million, the remained to be funded privately. The 5G infrastructure will be complemented by business incubation and acceleration support, technical expertise and AR and VR facilities. Please note that this element of the project will be subject to a separate procurement exercise. This project is seen as the start of Basingstoke's 5G journey. The town is expected to see significant growth over the next five to ten years, which could open up further potential opportunities for public/private partnership working subject to relevant suitable, future procurement exercises. This includes Manydown, a large housing development west of the town, that will see 3500 new homes in its first phase, the redevelopment of its existing Leisure Park into an experiential leisure destination, a new hospital and health campus, a redevelopment of its town centre and further large commercial developments. Basingstoke is also part of Gigabit Town & Rural project. Led by the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise partnership, the project will deploy gigabit-capable fibre connecting Basingstoke to the 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey in Guildford and will provide a step change in the region's digital connectivity. The project could act as a demonstrator for industry partners to showcase technology, expertise and development capabilities and could also help foster innovation by providing a range of use cases including smart city and Internet of Things applications, immersive retail and leisure, AR and VR, mobility and transport and digital health. Through its strong focus on commercialisation and business engagement, the project can also give access to innovative start ups and businesses helping to develop further 5G innovation and capabilities. Lot 1: The Council wishes to explore options on how to develop and implement the 5G Living Lab project so that it brings mutual benefit to the council and industry partners and so that it achieves commercial and monetisation opportunities for the industry partners involved. The project is at concept stage and the purpose of this prior information notice is to test the market and understand whether a consortium of industry partners would be interested in jointly shaping and developing the project, including the technical specifications and technical capabilities to be deployed, so that it provides innovation and commercialisation opportunities for the private sector. As part of the response to the prior information notice, we are interested in hearing from the private sector on the following points: • Would there be interest in such a project concept from the private sector? • What would make the project commercially attractive to the private sector to directly invest in the project development and implementation? • What delivery model would be most suitable to develop and implement the project? • What benefits would industry partners would seek for being involved in developing and implementing the project? • What information and scope would the private sector expect to see in a future procurement exercise? • Would private sector organisations be interested and capable of responding to a full, future procurement exercise? • What further developments and opportunities would the private sector be interested in? • Any other specific thoughts, comments or expertise on the proposed scheme which private sector organisations feel may be beneficial. As the purpose of this prior information notice is solely to engage with the market, the council is not seeking any commitment from the private sector at this stage but is keen to understand how the council and private sector partners could best work together to make the 5G Living Lab concept a reality and kick start the 5G future of the borough. Expressions of interest and responses to the above questions should be emailed to procurement@basingstoke.gov.uk by 31st March 2021. Additional information: This PIN has been published for the purpose of market engagement only. For the avoidance of doubt, this market engagement exercise implies no commercial commitment and is not a formal tender process. The Council is merely using this opportunity to sufficiently engage the market and determine the potential level of market interest. Please note any dates referenced within the PIN for future procurements are not confirmed, but are required for publication purposes of the form only.