KCB and partners are still engaged the very slow process of ensuring the tender meets all the regulatory requirements of the funders and is a safe and viable solution for our community.
Due to the nature of procurement law and issues of confidentially during the process, we are unable to disclose too much, however some of the issues we are working hard to resolve involve non-domestic rate liability, issues surrounding community ownership and the legality and compliance of the supplier’s bid.
One of the biggest areas of focus for us over the last month has been to ensure that all of the risks associated with the proposed solution, financial model and supply chain are fully understood and, as much as possible, mitigated. This process is continuing and we feel we are chipping away at the risks but, ultimately, it will be HIE who will decide if the project’s risks are acceptable.
We are all very aware that time is marching on at an alarming rate, and that the Scottish Government R100 programme is only slightly behind our project. The closing date for inclusion in the first phase of R100 is the end of July and we are approaching a watershed moment. If we remain as an independent, community-owned network, we will be excluded from the initial R100 procurement. If our project subsequently fails to proceed, we would end up in a later phase of R100. All our efforts are, therefore, going in to ensuring that we have as robust and compliant a tender as possible within the next few weeks.