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The companies invited to tender include:
Tenders will be submitted in the autumn and will be subject to detailed evaluation. Contracts will be awarded in 2015. The new ESN, designed to help the emergency services protect the public and save lives, will go live from 2016 to 2017. The new network is being developed in close partnership with the emergency services and will add broadband data capabilities that are increasingly used to help save lives. The ESN is expected to require an enhanced commercial network to deliver broadband data services. If it is used for voice communications, the emergency services will have priority over other users, avoiding the need for a separate and expensive mobile radio spectrum. The ESN contract is divided up into four parts or ‘lots’, and includes responsibility for:
Lot 1 – ESN Delivery Partner (DP) – transition support, cross-lot integration and user support: a delivery partner to provide programme management services for cross-lot ESN integration in transition; vehicle installation design and assurance; training support services; and delivery support during the implementation of ESN. Lot 2 – ESN User Services (US) – a technical service integrator to provide end-to-end systems integration for the ESN: to develop and operate the public safety applications; the necessary telecommunications infrastructure; mobile device management; customer support; and service management. Lot 3 – ESN Mobile Services (MS) – a resilient mobile network: a network operator to provide an enhanced mobile communications service with highly available full coverage in the defined lot 3 area (in GB / UK), highly available extended coverage over lot 4 telecommunications infrastructure, and technical interfaces to lots 2 and 4. Lot 4 – ESN Extension Services (ES) – coverage beyond the lot 3 network: a neutral host to provide a highly available telecommunications infrastructure in the defined lot 4 areas to enable the lot 3 supplier to extend their coverage, technical interfaces to the lot 3 supplier. The combined value of the four lots is estimated to be between £555m and £1,220m. This depends on the take-up of services by other Government and local public safety bodies in addition to the 3ES and any extension options. The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) is a Home Office led, cross-departmental scheme. It is set up to improve the cost and technology for communications used by emergency services, called the Emergency Services Network (ESN). The contracts for the existing emergency services systems provided by Airwave Solutions will begin to expire in September 2016. A replacement service is necessary and re-competition is legally required by the expiry in 2020 of the existing contracts. “To deliver broadband data services on which the emergency services increasingly rely, we expect to enhance a commercial mobile network with additional coverage, resilience and security; this will rely on commercial spectrum and priority access. As there is no spectrum available to the emergency services it is not currently possible or thought affordable to procure another private network,” states the Home Office. The three emergency services (3ES) service will be required to provide for:
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Companies have been formally invited to tender for the new emergency services network (ESN) by the Home Office. 