10 December 2011

• fibre GarDen is now registered as a Community Interest Company
• Our Expression of Interest to DEFRA for grant funding of £150,000 has been approved and we have now been invited to make a full application the is to be submitted by the end of January 2012.
• Garsdale and Dent Parish Councils provide support funding of £800 to cover some of the start-up costs.
• Yorkshire Dales National Park Dent Initiative fund agrees to make a £1,000 donation towards start-up costs.
• Melvyn Dickinson, a Dent Businessman and resident becomes a Director.
• David Labatte, a Garsdale Farmer and Parish Councillor becomes a Director.
• Next full Board meeting is on the 20th January 2012 but many Project Team meetings are scheduled before this date.

16 October 2011 - Updates:

• Fibre GarDen receives full pilot status!
• Expression of interest has been submitted to DEFRA for grant funding from BDUK
• Fibre GarDen Limited is being registered as a Community Interest Company

Read this useful article by John Colton of Lucid Fibre Optics - In for a Penny
Read this second useful article by John Colton of Lucid Fibre Optics - Fibre Lean

04 August 2011 - is the final day for the short listed suppliers to make their submissions to Cumbria County Council. The appointment of the successful supplier will be crucial to the realisation of community broadband groups objectives.

08 July 2011 - Industry Day, the short listed suppliers of Cumbria County Council's ICT procurement process will meet a number of community broadband groups. Presentations will be made and partnerships formed to help realise everyone's objectives. Fibre GarDen will be there with it's own team.

30 June 2011 - Members of the fibre GarDen Team meet with one of the Cumbria County Council short listed suppliers of their ICT procurement process to gain a greater understanding of each others objectives and how to achieve them.

24 June 2011 - Dr William Lumb has kindly accepted an invitation from fibre GarDen to join the Board. Dr Lumb is a local GP, lead clinician in Cumbria for helath informatics and has a passionate vision of the development of healthcare in rural Cumbria that, as part of the required infrastructure, would rely on a fibre optic network. 

Dr Lumb is a valuable addition to the team that will see further development of additional services through the planned network.

Today (2 June 2011) Cumbria County Council has announced the list of suppliers who have successfully made it through to the second stage of its ICT contracts procurement process. The contract, worth £120million, is made up in two lots, as follows; 

Lot one is for the contract to provide ICT services to the council, this includes provision and maintenance of computers, phones and security etc. This contract is currently provided by Agilisys and expires on 31^st March 2012. 

Lot two is to support an exciting county wide initiative to improve public sector networks across Cumbria and to implement super-fast broadband across the County, a project known as ‘Accessible Cumbria’. 

The successful bidders through to the second stage (in no particular order) are: 

Lot One – ICT Services
BT Global Services
Commendium Ltd
Computercentre UK Ltd
Fujitsu
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd

Lot Two – Accessible Cumbria
BT Global Services
Cable and Wireless
Commendium Ltd
CSC
Fujitsu 

In total 124 suppliers registered an interest in the two ICT contracts with a total of 23 suppliers submitting submissions in the first stage. The next stages involve the shortlisted companies entering into detailed dialogue with the Council to complete their outline stage 2 submissions for each lot by the end of July, with final detailed solutions by the end of September. The final decision will be taken by Cabinet in December 2011. The contract start date will be 1^st April 2012. 

Cllr Stewart Young, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member with responsibility for procurement said

“I’m delighted that Cumbria has had such a strong level of response and interest in our ICT contracts. We now have a very strong shortlist and I am confident that today’s announcement moves us an important step closer to identifying new suppliers to work with us on super fast broadband and on extending our use of technology across all services.”

Cllr Liz Mallinson, Cabinet Member for Organisational Development and ICT portfolio holder continued

“Developing super-fast broadband is critical for communities and businesses across Cumbria and we are really pleased to be making such firm progress as one of the four national pilots. Overall, this is a very exciting time for ICT in Cumbria and we look forward to continuing to deliver cost effective and efficient services to the people of Cumbria through investments in technology.”

During the current contract a lot of staff feedback has been gathered about ICT and how it is used in the organisation to help improve services and day to day operations. The council has also established a cross directorate working group, made up by representatives from each directorate, who are working together to help shape the contract. Additionally a series of county wide focus groups and surveys have been held over the last four years and all of this feedback from staff is now being used to help inform the new contract going forward. If you are interested in finding out who your directorate representative is please contact Emma Peile on  01228 221737 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            01228 221737      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or email emma.peile@cumbriacc.gov.uk.

Cumbria County Council is one of four national pilots for super-fast broadband the others being Highlands and Islands, Herefordshire and North Yorkshire . Agilisys currently employ approx 100 people who may be eligible for TUPE depending on the detail of the final contract.