Closed ATM View - ACCC 2021-03
Testing Services for the Measuring Broadband Australia (MBA) program
Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart
The MBA Program tests and publicly reports on the typical speed and performance of broadband plans provided, including those provided over Australia’s National Broadband Network. The MBA Program assists consumers to compare and make informed decisions about which broadband services meet their needs.
The Services provided by the Testing Provider must be independent and give the ACCC a source of accurate and reliable data of the highest standard, which can be readily verified and publicly reported by the ACCC, to enable consumers and others to compare performance across providers, plans and technologies. The Testing Provider will provide testing infrastructure, expertise and analysis under the ACCC’s direction to produce regular quarterly reports and other outputs to publicly report on the performance of retail broadband services in Australia.
For the purposes of full transparency and fairness, the ACCC highlights to prospective Tenderers that there is an incumbent testing provider with an operational and effective testing solution in place, which is not end of life.
Prospective Tenderer’s solutions must use a stand-alone Service Testing Device that actively tests the residential broadband connection of MBA Program Volunteers.
The ACCC will conduct an industry briefing in relation to the RFT to provide details about the MBA Program, the required Services, the Tender process and response requirements. The industry briefing will be conducted virtually on Microsoft Teams on Friday 5 November 2021 at 10.00am (ACT Local time)
As per clause 9.5. of the RFT, the Conditions for Participation are as follows:
a.to comply with the Black Economy Procurement-connected policy the Tenderer either:
i.holds all Valid and Satisfactory Statement of Tax Record by the Closing Time of this RFT for the following that apply; or
ii.has a Statement of Tax Receipt demonstrating that a Statement of Tax Record has been requested from the Australian Taxation Office by the Closing Time of this RFT and holds all Valid and Satisfactory Statement of Tax Record no later than four Business Days from the Closing Time of this RFT, for each of the following:
A.if the Tenderer is a company, the Tenderer company;
B.if the Tenderer is a trustee, the relevant trust;
C.if the Tenderer is a partnership, the partnership and each partner that is directly involved in the delivery of the Services; or
D.if the Tenderer is a subsidiary of a consolidated group, or a Multiple Entry Consolidated (MEC) group for income tax and/or GST for taxation purposes, the income tax group head and/or GST group representative; and
b.if the Tenderer proposes to use First-Tier Subcontractors in the delivery of the Services, that it proposes, as part of its Tender, to engage to deliver the Services with an estimated value of over $4 million (GST inclusive), the Tenderer either:
i.holds all Valid and Satisfactory Statement of Tax Record for any First Tier Subcontractor by the Closing Time of this RFT; or
ii.has a Statement of Tax Receipt demonstrating that a Statement of Tax Record has been requested from the Australian Taxation Office for any First-Tier Subcontractor by the Closing Time of this RFT and holds all Valid and Satisfactory Statement of Tax Record for any First-Tier Subcontractor no later than four Business Days from the Closing Time of this RFT; and
c.the Tenderer’s proposed approach to delivering the Services incorporates a Stand-alone Service Testing Device as detailed at 3.1.2 of the Statement of Requirements.
This RFT process is seeking a Testing Provider for the three year period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2025.
The Contract with the successful Tenderer may commence earlier in 2022 to allow for Transition-in.