Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name, addresses and contact point(s)
Ministry of Defence
Westwells Rd
Corsham
SN13 9GB
Contact
Howard Jones
For the attention of
Howard Jones
Email(s)
ukstratcomdd-cm-fxdnet@mod.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
General address of the contracting authority/entity
Section two: Object of the contract
two.1) Description
two.1.1) Title attributed to the contract
712759450 – Phase 2 Enhanced Business Broadband for Falkland Island
two.1.2) Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance
Services
Service category No 11: Telecommunications services
Main site or location of works, place of delivery or of performance
Falkland Island
NUTS code
- FK - Falkland Islands
two.1.4) Short description of the contract or purchase(s)
The requirement is to provide a Business Broadband Service to British Forces South Atlantic Islands (BFSAI) Falkland Islands. It requires both wired and wireless access, with Wi-Fi distribution and interconnects for BFSAI across the Falkland Islands users across a multitude of sites. Welfare broadband is excluded from this requirement.
two.1.5) Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)
- 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
two.2) Total final value of contract(s)
two.2.1) Total final value of contract(s)
Value: £1,433,887.79
Excluding VAT
Section four: Procedure
Type of procedure
Restricted
four.2) Award criteria
four.2.1) Award criteria
Lowest price
four.2.2) Information about electronic auction
An electronic auction has been used: no
Section five: Award of contract
Contract No
712759450
five.1) Date of contract award decision
31 January 2025
five.2) Information about offers
Number of offers received
1
Number of offers received by electronic means
1
five.3) Name and address of economic operator in favour of whom the contract award decision has been taken
Sure South Atlantic Ltd
Ross Road, Stanley,
Falkland Islands
FIQQ 1ZZ
Email(s)
Country
Falkland Islands
five.4) Information on value of contract
Total final value of the contract
Value: £1,433,887.79
Excluding VAT
If annual or monthly value
Number of months: 9
five.5) Information about subcontracting
The contract is likely to be sub-contracted: No
Section six: Complementary information
six.1) Information about European Union funds
The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
six.2) Additional information
The Fixed Connectivity within Defence Digital Programme team , part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), intends to award a single source contract for a total of 9 months to Sure South Atlantic Ltd for the provision of a Business Broadband Service to British Forces South Atlantic Islands (BFSAI) Falkland Islands.
This contract will provide a business broadband service via a dedicated international connection with of an aggregated 450Mbps capacity to a multitude of sites to service 1084 users across the Falkland Islands.
As some of the sites require a fast connection and others can tolerate a slower connection, the sites have been prioritised as Priority 1, 2 and 3. Most sites will have mix of wired and wireless connectivity, but some priority sites are wired only.
The core distribution connections for different sites will be achieved by different means such as fibre, DSL, Point-to multipoint (PMP Radio), and via microwave radio. The authentication of these services will be in accordance with the MOD’s JSP policy, and the services will not have any direct connectivity to MOD services.
Welfare broadband is excluded from this requirement.
In accordance with regulation 4 of The Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/697) this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 as amended (in particular by SI 2019/697 and SI 2020/1450). Prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union is no longer appropriate.
It is considered that the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the UK e-notification service (as required by the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the DSPCR 2011 for Technical Reasons. This is for the following reasons.
Only Sure South Atlantic Ltd own and have access to the required mast/relay towers and infrastructure in-situ on the Falkland Islands to deliver these Business Broadband services, meaning they are the only supplier that can meet the MOD’s requirements. For another supplier to attempt to provide this Business Broadband Service would require them to build and install new towers and infrastructure across the Falkland Islands which would result in substantial and disproportionate additional time and cost implications, including an unacceptable capability gap.