Planning

Internet Infrastructure and Provision for British Embassy in Baghdad

  • Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

UK2: Preliminary market engagement notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-068370

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-05d3c2 (view related notices)

Published 25 October 2025, 10:03pm



Scope

Description

The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is planning a procurement for Internet Infrastructure and Provision for British Embassy in Baghdad.

The tender opportunity is expected to be for supply of the internet infrastructure and a service provision of 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) of contended internet bandwidth. The internet service provision will utilise existing multi-mode fibre optic infrastructure but the Internet Service Provider (ISP) will need to provide and install the appropriate additional infrastructure requirements to deliver the internet service.

Total value (estimated)

  • £120,000 excluding VAT
  • £144,000 including VAT

Above the relevant threshold

Contract dates (estimated)

  • 15 December 2025 to 14 December 2026
  • Possible extension to 14 December 2028
  • 3 years

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

  • 72411000 - Internet service providers ISP

Contract locations

  • IQ - Iraq

Engagement

Engagement deadline

29 October 2025

Engagement process description

The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is planning a procurement for Internet Infrastructure and Provision for British Embassy in Baghdad. Having reviewed all available routes to market, FCDO is considering to use the Competitive Flexible Procedure based on the Open Procedure under Procurement Act 2023 (UK Proc Act 2023).

FCDO will host a virtual early market engagement (EME) event on Wednesday 29TH October 2025.

In order to register for the EME event the organisation must login or register on FCDO's ePortal: https://fcdo.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html and complete PQQ 1952: "Early Market Engagement (EME) for Internet Infrastructure and Provision for British Embassy in Baghdad".

In case of any issues with registering on the FCDO's ePortal, please follow the help instructions listed on the ePortal home page or contact the platform provider. Any queries related to the opportunity or EME event should be submitted on the FCDO ePortal via messaging functionality linked to PPQ 1952.

The purpose of this event is to promote this opportunity and provide a high-level overview of requirements and timescales to ensure delivery of the best Value for Money (VfM) solution. Previous engagement with the local market identified lack of familiarity with UK public procurement tenders as potential barriers to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and local providers.

The presentation will provide a short update to the requirements, followed by an introduction to the new UK procurement legislation. Large section of the event will be dedicated to explaining the FCDO's tender process and demystifying public procurement, specifically requirements of the Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ), a new tool introduced by the Proc Act 2023 to streamline supplier evaluation.

There are no restrictions on the attendance of EME event, however, please note that in order for the bid to be considered, the IPS must meet a number of mandatory requirements. These include but are not limited to:

• being licensed by the Ministry of Communications within the Government of Iraq (i.e. hold permissions to provide the service to customers within the International Zone); and

• being able to physically visit the British Embassy site within 6 hours for any fault resolution they can't manage remotely (that means they need Government of Iraq passes to access to the International Zone in Baghdad, where the British Embassy is sited).

Please note that this EME event is not a call to competition and does not constitute the commencement of the procurement process. The use of PQQ functionality is for the purpose of organising the EME event and the dialogue with the supplier base following it.

Attendance in the EME event is not mandatory; non-participation in the event will not prevent a bidder from submitting a tender.

Please complete Qualification Envelope for PQQ_1952 by 7 am Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on Wednesday 29th October 2025.


Participation

Particular suitability

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)


Submission

Publication date of tender notice (estimated)

30 October 2025


Contracting authority

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

  • Public Procurement Organisation Number: PXRR-8771-PHVX

King Charles Street

London

SW1A 2AH

United Kingdom

Region: UKI32 - Westminster

Organisation type: Public authority - central government