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Telephones element—community phones component

The closing date for responses to this request for expressions of interest was 12 October 2007.

Request for expressions of interest

A. Overview

Community phones

The Telecommunications Action Plan for Remote Indigenous Communities (TAPRIC) provided $8.3 million to address the telecommunications needs of Aboriginal people living in remote Australia. TAPRIC included a trial of community phones in remote Indigenous communities (RICs) in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It provided 216 community phones in 124 communities. An evaluation of the trial found that the phones have been well supported.

The community phones allow 24 hour access and can only be operated using prepaid phone cards. The are housed in a steel case to protect the phone from the environment and damage. Some wireless installations allowed the placement of community phones in RICs without terrestrial cable network connections or capacity, but within existing CDMA coverage. Regional Agents were engaged to liaise with communities to promote the phone services, assist with applications, provide training and help evaluate the new services.

Backing Indigenous Ability (BIA)

On 17 August 2005 funding of $1.1 billion was annoynced towards the Connect Australia package to improve communications services in regional, rural and remote Australia. It includes the $36.6 million BIA telecommunications program launched on 23 February 2007.

$11.92 million of the BIA funding will be allocated, until June 2010, to improve telephone services in RICs. This includes a component for installing additional community phones. It is expected that up to $10.72 million may be allocated for this component. Under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, the Department is obligated to use Commonwealth resources in an efficient, effective and ethical manner.

This request for Expressions of Interest (EOI) seeks industry submissions on a proposal to provide community phones under the BIA Telephones element to an estimated 300 RICs, noting, as discussed below, that this number is subject to confirmation and may vary. It is expected that many communities are in areas without terrestrial cable or wireless telecommunications infrastructure, meaning that the backhaul capacity may need to be satellite-based.

B. Purpose of the EOI

In implementing the community phones component, the Department is undertaking a two-stage process.

First, the EOI process will assess whether suitable applicants are capable of supplying community phones to RICs.

Second, following evaluation of EOIs, the Department may issue an open request for applications to supply community phones.

It was not necessary to provide a response to this request for EOI in order to be eligible to apply under the open request for applications if such an open request is made. However, it should be noted that:

• if there is only one suitable EOI in response to this request, the Department may undertake a direct sourcing approach with that service provider, without undertaking a further open request for applications process.
• if there is no suitable EOI in response to this request, the Department may undertake a direct sourcing approach with any service provider, without undertaking a further open request for applications process.

This EOI was being undertaken to:

• seek information from potential applicants about their ability to supply community phones in RICs.
• enable the Department to use information provided in responses to the EOI to assess whether or not to proceed with an open request for applications process (see above) as described in this document; and
• enable the Department to use information provided in responses to the EOI to assist it in conducting future sourcing of community phones and to use, reproduce, adapt, modify and develop information included in responses for this purpose.

C. Status of the EOI

This EOI was undertaken on the following basis:

• The EOI process will determine whether there is any likely interest from potential service providers in undertaking the tasks outlined in this document.
• Submissions to this EOI will be assessed by the Department to judge whether applicants are suitable, i.e. have the ability to undertake the tasks outlined in this document.
• As described above, responses to this EOI will be considered by the Department in determining whether to proceed to an open request for applications process under BIA or whether to initiate direct sourcing negotiations with a suitable provider.
• Responding to this EOI was voluntary. Responses will be considered and assessed to determine stakeholder ability to accomplish requirements. It was not necessary to respond in order to qualify to participate in any future open request for applications process that may be established under the BIA Telephones element. Responses to the EOI will not bind respondents in any way, nor will they be considered as part of any assessment process that may take place under an open request for applications process. However, as described above, if there is no, or only one, suitable expression of interest, the Department may undertake a direct sourcing approach with a single service provider, without undertaking a further open request for applications process.
• Subject to the Commonwealth’s rights of disclosure (see Section G), the Department will hold in confidence those parts of responses so identified by respondents.
• Undertaking this EOI does not indicate a commitment by the Australian Government to proceed to an open request for applications process, either through the approach set out in this EOI or through any other approach.

Respondents should refer to the conditions for responding (Section G).

Information contained in this EOI is to be used for the purpose of compiling a response only, and intellectual property rights that exist in the information contained in this EOI remain the property of the Australian Government.

D. Objectives

The Department's objective is to provide sustainable access to community phones in RICs to enable improved access to telephone services in those communities.

E. Technical requirements

Consistent with the outcomes of the community phones trial, the Department expects the community telephone services installed under BIA would meet the following technical requirements:

1. The phones are to be available to the public at all times.
2. The phones should operate using pre-paid cards. The cards are to be made readily available to RICs and cards already developed for the 216 community phones referred to above should be able to be used on the new phones.
3. The phones should be robust, capable of resisting vandalism or environmental extremes.
4. The phones should be able to receive incoming calls without a charge to the called party.
5. The phones should provide access to untimed local calls (within, and to an adjacent, Telstra ‘extended zone’).
6. The phones should have free access to emergency calls.
7. The phones should have access to free or local call options (1800 and 1300 prefix etc).
8. The phones should not include access to reverse charge calls.
9. The phones should be maintained so that they are operational for a contractual period. The period is to be specified but may initially be up to five years.

As with the former TAPRIC program, the Department will engage telephone regional agents to liaise with communities to promote the proposed community phone services, to assist communities to apply for community phones, to provide training and to evaluate the new services.

F. Assessment criteria

To determine whether applicants are suitable, responses will be assessed against the following criteria:

1. Ability to supply a community phone that substantially meets the above technical requirements.
2. Ability to install a community phone to around 300 RICs within 12 months of the signing a contract for their supply and installation.
3. Ability to maintain the community phones over a period to be specified contractually.
4. Ability to work with Indigenous communities.

Applicants should address each of the criteria. In doing so, information should be provided against each of the technical requirements of Section E.

Information should include the following:

• Technology options that are proposed for the provision of services. These will need to include satellite-based options as some communities are expected to be located in areas without terrestrial wireless or cable infrastructure
• An indication of costs for supply and installation of the phones
• An indication of annual costs for maintenance of the phones
• An indication of expected call charges for users of the phones.

Applicants were invited to indicate any additional telecommunications services that could be provided in association with provision of the community phones and, if so, the indicative additional cost of providing them.

Applicants were to provide details of the name of the organisation applying, its Australian Business Number, whether it is a carrier or service provider under the Telecommunications Act 1997, and details of a contact officer.

To assist applicants, the following information is attached:

• An indicative map of the 300 RICs that may be eligible to receive community phones. This information is based on 2001 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data and is subject to change, either in the light of revised ABS data, or because of changes in the scope of the community phones program. In particular, fewer or more community phones may be installed but in any case it is intended that a single supplier would be contracted to install all the community phones.

G. Conditions of response

By submitting a response to this request for EOI, each respondent acknowledges and agrees that:

• the Australian Government will not meet any costs or expenses incurred by the respondent in submitting a response
• neither this EOI nor any response will create any legal or other obligation upon the Australian Government, and in particular, will not create any obligation on the Australian Government to conduct the EOI or any future funding process in any manner, or at all
• the Australian Government will own responses
• while the respondent will own intellectual property rights that exist in the information contained in a response, the Australian Government and its advisers may reproduce, adapt, modify and develop such information for the purposes set out in Section B ‘Purpose of the EOI’ and to the extent necessary the respondent licences the Australian Government to do so
• the Australian Government may disclose information included in a response, whether confidential or not, if:
  • that disclosure is required by law;
  • that disclosure is required to meet reporting or accountability requirements of the Department or the Minister arising out of relevant legislation (including the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 and the Freedom of Information Act 1982), the Australian National Audit Office or any other auditor, the Commonwealth Parliament and its committees, and the Commonwealth Ombudsman;
  • the information is, or becomes, public knowledge, other than by breach of confidentiality by the Australian Government or other unlawful means by the Australian Government;
  • that disclosure is to any of the Australian Government’s officers, employees, contractors, consultants, advisers or agents and, if the information is confidential, those persons are under an obligation of confidentiality; or
  • that disclosure is reasonably necessary to enable the Australian Government to meet the purposes set out in Section B of this EOI.

The contact officer on this matter is:

Manager
Indigenous Telecommunications Development Section
Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
GPO Box 2154
CANBERRA ACT 2601

telephone 02 6271 1264
fax 02 6271 1435
email: bia@dbcde.gov.au

• Document ID: 73242 |
• Last modified: 24 October 2008, 4:28pm