Please find Devon County Council’s response to the question below.
Please disclose all information relating to the awarding of contracts under the guidance of Connecting Devon and Somerset publish on 21st December 2016, why lots 1 and 4 have not been awarded and details of this delay.
Connecting Devon and Somerset published the following press announcement on 21st December https://www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk/connecting-devon-somerset-announces-biggest-single-investment-full-fibre-uk/ announcing that a contract had been awarded to Gigaclear for four of the 6 lots on offer under phase 2 of the Connecting Devon and Somerset Programme.
Details of the decision to award the contract can be found here:
and here:
http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:29843-2017:TEXT:EN:HTML
Lot 1 could not be awarded at the same time because this was the subject of a legal challenge regarding the procurement process. This has now been mutually resolved between the parties and a provider has been elevated to Preferred Bidder status. Due Diligence is being undertaken on the Lot 1 contract and an announcement is expected shortly.
Lot 4 was not awarded because of an extended Due Diligence period to confirm that the proposed solution was State Aid compliant. This has now been concluded and awarded.