UK Needs To Pick Up Handsets For Troubled Emergency Services Network Project

The UK government is talking to tech suppliers to provide handsets for the country's emergency services' voice and data network, in a procurement which could be worth up to £925 million ($1.24 billion).

With the publication of a preliminary market engagement notice, the Home Office has kicked off the latest installment in a long and sorry saga that is the Emergency Services Network (ESN), an £11 billion ($14.3 billion) project to provide a voice and data network to the UK's police, ambulance, fire, and coastguard services – one which has been beset by years of delays and billions of pounds overspend [PDF].

In a procurement notice, the central government department said it wants to create a framework deal to provide mobile communication devices for the ESN. Through the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP), the Home Office said it had been assessing the devices market for several years and is now inviting suppliers to take part in a preliminary market engagement.

It promises to give suppliers the opportunity to look at and respond to the detailed technical and service requirements for each of up to six end-user device categories, including rugged handhelds, rugged dual-mode handsets, non-rugged models, intrinsically safe handhelds, featurephones, and fixed vehicle devices.

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Within the next few weeks, prospective suppliers will be able to take part in a webinar hosted by the ESMCP. The formal competition is expected to kick off in November with the publication of a tender notice.

The ESN is expected to replace Airwave, the mobile comms systems used by the fire, police, and ambulance services in the UK. Although reliable, Airwave is old and lacks data bandwidth. The Home Office started the program to deliver ESN in 2014, and hoped to begin using it in 2017, allowing Airwave to be replaced in December 2019. Under current plans, the ESN may not go live before 2029. Estimated costs have risen from around £6 billion to around £11 billion (from $8 billion to c $15 billion), yet MPs have pointed out even those figures may be optimistic.

The project has also been the subject of intervention by regulators and legal wrangling. In 2022, the Competition and Markets Authority proposed a price cap on Motorola, which at the time was a supplier to both Airwave and ESN, potentially creating a conflict of interest in making sure the new project ran on time. CMA estimated Motorola stood to make £1.3 billion ($1.75 billion) in excess profits owing to its position.

Motorola later withdrew from ESN, to be replaced by IBM. Its latest appeal to have its Airwave price cap lifted was rejected. ®