New tender for UK Home office
The tender will cover end user devices, air-to-ground services & devices, vehicle installation and control room upgrades due to go out to tender in addition to the main network contract
The United Kingdom Home Office recently announced it will be engaging with suppliers for four additional contracts relating to the new £1.2bn Emergency Services Network (ESN) - this is the new communication system that will replace the existing Airwave TETRA two-way radio network for the emergency services.
According to Wireless Magaine, A Prior Information Notice (PIN) has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) stating that the department will engage suppliers regarding four separate parts of the contract for the new ESN:
• User devices
• Air-to-ground service and devices
• Radio installation in approximately 40,000 emergency services vehicles
• Control room upgrades.
Minister of State for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims Mike Penning said: “A modernised communications network is vital to help the emergency services protect the public and save lives. We are on track to deliver this critical part of our national infrastructure by 2017.
Tenders for the contracts will be submitted ‘in the near future’ and will then be subject to detailed evaluation. Contracts will be awarded in 2015 and the new ESN will go live from 2017, as existing Airwave contracts with the various police, fire and ambulances services expire.
