Broadband success rests on suppliers

Broadband adoption in the public sector now depends on whether suppliers are willing to offer a good deal, says the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

The OGC is inviting to suppliers to bid for framework contracts to underpin government plans to combine public sector demand for broadband to drive investment in rural infrastructure.

The idea is to negotiate a series of contracts that can be used by all public sector buyers.

The OGC hopes the contracts will help cut public sector broadband bills and boost take-up.

But to some extent the success of the project will be up to the suppliers, says George Harrold, commercial director of OGC buying.solutions, the trading arm responsible for letting and managing the contracts.

'If the supply side come forward with attractive proposals and we can come up with good terms which people find easy to use then this will be the real deal.

'If their proposals are just the standard terms and conditions then the impact will be that much reduced,' he said.

Once in place the contracts will apply to the whole public sector including schools, GPs and individual employees who need broadband to work from home. They should be finalised and ready for use by the end of this financial year, said Harrold.

A spokesman for BT said: 'We welcome the work the OGC has been doing in developing these contracts.

'BT is monitoring developments and will bid if there is a commercial return to the investment.'

OGC chief executive Peter Gershon said: 'Since OGC was established our collaborative procurement arrangements have saved the public sector hundreds of millions of pounds.'

The Scottish Executive is undertaking a similar exercise to provide commercially viable broadband access to rural Scotland. It intends to launch two pilot schemes.