The National Broadband Network Company has commenced a request for proposals process through which it will seek suppliers of passive network equipment — or in other words, the optical fibre and terminal connecting devices which will constitute its planned network around the nation.

However, unlike with previous NBN Co tendering processes, the details of the purchasing initiative are not available, as the NBN Co has required interested parties to sign a confidentiality agreement before they gain access to the formal RFP documents.

“We seek registrations of interest from suitably qualified manufacturers of fibre to the premises (FTTP) passive network hardware,” the company said in a new posting on its website this week.

“To be invited by NBN Co to respond to the RFP, manufacturers must have proven FTTP-specific experience, scale and capabilities to supply FTTP passive network hardware and services.” The NBN Co has given suppliers just two weeks from last Monday to respond to the RFP.

The news comes as the NBN Co has recently inked a number of deals with suppliers as it continues to grow.

For example, on March 3 the company revealed it had signed a contract with Accenture for the IT services giant to host the company’s HR systems. A week before — on February 25 — the company confirmed it was in “detailed negotiations” with Oracle after it picked the software giant to supply its enterprise resource planning software.

And the week previous to that, the company called for submissions from technology vendors interested in supplying the core IT systems for its national fibre rol-out — the core billing, customer management, network management and provisioning systems — even extending to fault management — that telcos rely upon for their daily business.

Image credit: Flavio Takemoto, royalty free

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