Thank you
Things are really getting busy here. As you know the team are currently evaluating the tender documents that have come in and our planned date to announce the contract winner is late April, with contracts due to be signed in May.
Thanks for all of the information that you have provided to us, as a result we are able to be a very “smart client” throughout this process. What this means is that we have lot of data and information that we can use to challenge the assumptions and statements that have been made in the tender documents, so that we can make sure that we get the best possible coverage and the best possible deal from this procurement.
Could you be our 10,000th survey respondent? Win Amazon vouchers!
As noted above we have had a fantastic response to our surveys. In fact we now have almost 10,000 registered responses! In celebration we are offering a prize of £20 in Amazon vouchers to the person who send in the 10,000th response. You can do the surveys online at http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/ . Remember that just because a building doesn’t have a sign over the door it doesn’t mean that there is no business activity going on inside – so if you run a business from home or work from home you should also complete the business survey.
Next steps
We are now preparing our State Aid submission, which is what the cabinets information was required for. So, for the moment at least, that part of the data collection is completed. We have some interesting information about communities that are located some considerable distance from their cabinets, and are taking this forward with the potential suppliers.
We do still need people to complete the surveys that are available online at http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/get-involved/tell-us-about-your-broadband-issues/residents-survey/
As we get into the rollout of the network the surveys will start to be used – we’ll let you know more about that nearer the time, but meanwhile do please remind your friends, neighbours and family to complete theirs if they haven’t already.
Top questions this month
When will you be announcing the contract winner?
We should be able to announce the contract winner in May. The actual tendering and contracting timescales are determined by BDUK, but we have already advised them that we are likely to be at least a week behind the BDUK timetable in signing a contract as we have a number of clarifications and issues to work through. Unfortunately we are tied down by commercial confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements so cannot expand on the delays except to assure you that we are doing everything we can to make sure that we get the best possible outcome for our project. The slight delay should not affect the rollout programme.
When will we start to see something happening on the ground?
Survey work is likely to start quite soon after contract signing, and installation of the new network should commence towards the turn of the year.
CSW Broadband now on social media – come and join the conversation
We are now on the major social media channels and are already creating a buzz. Join in for up-to-date information and an opportunity to influence how the project develops
Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/CSWSuperfastBroadband
Twitter – https://twitter.com#!/cswbroadband
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/groups/CSW-Superfast-Broadband-4403473
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