Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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239. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will install broadband in an area (details supplied) in County Waterford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12262/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to deliver high speed services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to the delivery of the NBP as a matter of priority. The High Speed Broadband Map 2020, which is available at shows the extent of the State Intervention area. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial telecommunications providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services. The areas marked AMBER represent the target areas for the State Intervention . Members of the public can view whether their premises in County Waterford are in the BLUE or AMBER area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their Eircode.  Based on information provided by commercial operators, Highfield Business Park, Portlaw, County Waterford will be part of the State intervention and will not be served on a commercial basis by commercial operators.

In terms of the procurement process, five responses have been received from prospective bidders to this stage of the competitive procurement process by the deadline of 31 March 2016. The five responses are being assessed in line with the criteria set down by the Department with a view to shortlisted qualified bidders proceeding to the next stage of procurement.

The second stage in the procurement process will be a formal invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) to shortlisted bidders. I expect that my Department will move to this stage in the next month.

The third stage of the procurement process involves the issue of final tender documentation which follows the dialogue process. Following the submission of final tenders by bidders, a winning bidder(s) will be selected for the contract(s). The tender process includes two land areas, with a broadly equal number of premises in each. Bidders can bid for both areas separately, as well as providing a single bid for the entire area. Once winning bidder(s) have been selected, the Department will enter into formal contract negotiations with the winning bidder(s). It is expected that a contract will be awarded by June 2017.

Engagement with industry stakeholders as part of the pre-procurement and consultations has indicated that the roll-out in the State Intervention area could be achieved within 3-5 years of the contract award. Roll-out will commence once the contract is in place.

As part of the competitive process, the Department will engage with winning bidder(s) on the best roll-out strategy, in order to target areas of particularly poor service, business needs and / or high demand. This will need to be balanced with the most efficient network roll-out plan.

I am in discussion at present with Minister Heather Humphreys on the detailed arrangements to give effect to commitments in the Programme for a Partnership Government regarding her Department’s role in relation to the roll-out phase of the National Broadband Plan. The role will include leading on the establishment of county or regional broadband taskforces and working with local authorities, Local Enterprise Offices, LEADER Groups and other relevant agencies to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland, once a contract(s) has been awarded.