RE: Fleccy is the new daniel31 May 2023 16:03
"Testa, what is that?"
"The European Commission (EC) has withdrawn the contract it awarded to BT for the delivery of the Trans-European Services for Telematics between Administrations (TESTA) service.
A BT spokesperson told TelcoTitans that the operator is now “considering our position in relation to this matter”.
BT went on to express disappointment that a “trusted ICT provider in the EU and a legally separate subsidiary” had been eliminated from the picture, referencing the contract award to BT Global Services Belgium, the Group’s Belgian subsidiary.
BT Global Services Belgium is a 100% subsidiary of BT Group, operating out of offices in Diagem, near the capital.
TESTA is designed to provide the secure exchange of sensitive information between public authorities in European Union (EU) member states. BT was initially awarded the lucrative €458m (£398.1m) contract to manage the platform in January 2022 (BTwatch, #334).
However, the contract, which would see the subsidiary manage the communications of entities such as Europol and the European Defence Agency, has now been annulled after the EC cancelled the entire procurement process.
Legal proceedings had been launched in April by rival bidding partners Telefónica and Indra Sistemas, alleging that BT’s bid was reviewed under a different set of criteria to that used for Telefónica’s proposal. Controversy in the courtroom saw the EC freeze the contract transfer from former provider Deutsche Telekom, with the German incumbent still delivering TESTA since (BTwatch, #344).
When announced last year, the decision to allow a subsidiary with a UK-based parent to manage sensitive EU data flared up a significant amount of political backlash in Brussels. Despite European Commissioner Johannes Hahn previously stating that “subcontractors envisaged in BT Global Services Belgium’s bid are established in the EU”, Renew Europe MEP Sophia in’t Veld had questioned whether a BT subsidiary was capable of delivering the system without input from its parent, given its “modest” size. Some EU telcos indicated a sense of unease over an ostensibly non-EU business running such critical infrastructure and the effect such a move could have on broader EU ambitions for digital sovereignty."
https://www.telcotitans.com/btwatch/bt-loses-out-in-eu-data-exchange-controversy/6665.article?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Weekly%20BTwatch%20Weekly&utm_content=Weekly%20BTwatch%20Weekly+CID_0701848421ea7a432a07746c2f29667b&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=BT%20loses%20out%20in%20EU%20data%20exchange%20controversy
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