Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Department plans non-competitive extension of EE’s ESN contract despite slow infrastructure progress.
Conclusion
In 2015, the Home Office awarded EE a six-year contract to provide the main network infrastructure for ESN. It intended for this contract to be subject to competition in the future, to avoid being locked into a single supplier and to help take advantage of 81 Qq 30, 53–54 (27 March) 82 Q 31 (27 March) 83 Q 10 (26 April) 84 Q 47 (27 March) 85 ESN0001 86 Q 4 (26 April) 87 Q 10 (26 April) 88 Q 11 (26 April) 89 Qq 12, 26 (26 April) 90 C&AG’s Report, para 2.30 91 C&AG’s Report, paras 15, 2.28 92 Q 35 (26 April) 93 Q 15 (26 April) 16 The Emergency Services Network innovations. As part of the 2018 programme reset, the Department extended EE’s contract by three years to December 2024. It currently plans to award EE a new contract, without competition, thereby extending EE’s involvement in ESN. Although EE has made progress on the network infrastructure, its work has proceeded slower than expected and was not complete, with six sites unfinished when the NAO reported in March 2022.94
Government Response
A response document is linked to this report, dated 24 September 2023. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document ↗