Evidence strength: 2-signal cluster
Key facts
- Flex Innovation - Smart Meter based Internet of Things (IoT) Phase 2 (contracts-finder, 2023-08-14, grade C, GB)
- Notice id: c01be210-6c68-4945-9cae-9a7cf49ced15
- Amount in notice: £625,171.40
- Amount in notice: £764,323
- Beyond Off Street - Smart Meter EV Charging SBRI (contracts-finder, 2020-09-09, grade C, GB)
- Notice id: 3a8751b3-1768-4e9d-a2c6-e46c92986a84
- Amount in notice: £0
Industry reading
The two Contracts Finder records, both tagged Industry meters and awarded via the SBRI competition procedure, sketch a GB-side R&D pipeline that uses the existing smart-meter communications network as a substrate for adjacent data services. The first award, Phase 2 of the Smart Metering Internet of Things System (SMIOTS), funds demonstration of temperature and humidity sensing inside properties using secure smart meter data carried over the Data Communication Company's network, framed around the net-zero transition and data protection. The second, Beyond Off Street, targets smart-meter-enabled EV charging and bundles electric vehicles, electricity meters, distribution, meter reading, software supply and data supply into a single procurement scope, with a £0 headline value recorded on the award. The contract values diverge sharply: SMIOTS Phase 2 sits at £625,171.40 to £764,323 against a 20 July 2023 to 31 March 2025 service window, while Beyond Off Street shows a £0 contract value over 30 June 2020 to 28 February 2022, consistent with an early-stage feasibility phase before any follow-on commercial award. Read together, the signals imply a programmatic, phase-gated approach rather than one-off pilots. SMIOTS moving from a Phase 1 data-collection effort into a Phase 2 demonstration suggests the funder is satisfied with the technical concept and is now stress-testing deployment, security and data-protection claims on real assets. Beyond Off Street appears to occupy an earlier slot in a similar pipeline, expanding the meter network into a transport-electrification use case. For category managers in metering, energy data services and building IoT, the takeaway is that smart-meter infrastructure is being repositioned as a multi-purpose data spine, with new demand pulled into temperature, humidity and EV-load sensing rather than confined to billing and settlement. The procurement design also narrows the supplier pool. Both notices flag suitability for smaller providers and route through SBRI, which is explicitly aimed at early-stage challenge-led R&D from those suppliers. Procedure type is recorded as Other: SBRI competition and Other: Open Procurement for SBRI, with London as the named location for Beyond Off Street and an any-region designation for SMIOTS Phase 2, so the geographic gate is loose even where the contracting body is London-based. Awards of this shape typically feed a smaller shortlist into later commercial phases, and the presence of a Phase 2 contract on the public record indicates that at least one supplier from the earlier cohort has already cleared the demonstration gate and is now a credible incumbent for adjacent follow-on work. What the evidence does not establish is just as important. The excerpts do not name the awarded suppliers, do not disclose evaluation scores, and do not confirm whether the SMIOTS Phase 2 contract value represents the full programme envelope or only the visible task. There is no indication of volumes, connected-asset counts, or unit pricing for sensors, meters or charging points, and no disclosure of cybersecurity certifications, data-sharing arrangements with the Data Communication Company, or compliance with any specific standard. The £0 headline on Beyond Off Street should be read as a feasibility-call convention, not as evidence that EV-charging integration is being procured at zero cost downstream. Treat any extrapolation to commercial-scale meter or charger orders as outside the envelope. The so-what for procurement teams is that the smart-meter and EV-charging categories are being co-developed through challenge-led competitions, with the Data Communication Company network effectively acting as a shared dependency. Suppliers already positioned in meter data, secure telemetry or EV charge-point management should expect follow-on briefs that build on the SMIOTS and Beyond Off Street templates, while buyers in housing, facilities and local energy schemes should anticipate more solicitations that piggy-back on smart-meter connectivity rather than commissioning standalone sensor networks.
- Flex Innovation - Smart Meter based Internet of Things (IoT) Phase 2 (contracts-finder, 2023-08-14, grade C)
- Beyond Off Street - Smart Meter EV Charging SBRI (contracts-finder, 2020-09-09, grade C)
Sourcing implications
Scope risk sits in the dependency on the Data Communication Company's smart-meter network, which constrains latency, coverage and data-access terms for any downstream IoT or EV service. Timing risk is material: SMIOTS Phase 2 runs only to 31 March 2025, so any procurement tied to its outputs needs to plan for end-of-contract handover, while Beyond Off Street's earlier 28 February 2022 close suggests the relevant follow-on window is already open. Compliance focus should centre on data protection for in-property sensing and on interoperability with existing meter communications, both called out in the SMIOTS description.
Bid windows for SBRI-style competitions are short and phase-gated, so OEMs and integrators need pre-built demonstrators rather than paper bids to stay credible. Channel partners with secure access to the Data Communication Company network, or with established meter-data telemetry stacks, hold an advantage in both SMIOTS-style sensing and Beyond Off Street EV use cases, but the smaller-supplier flag means consortia with specialist start-ups remain competitive. Plan for a phased revenue profile: feasibility-stage £0 contracts leading into demonstration contracts in the £625,171.40 to £764,323 range over 20 to 24 months.
What to verify next
- Open the SMIOTS Phase 2 award on Contracts Finder (tender_317433/1246941) to confirm the awarded supplier and full contract value at the primary notice (see Sources)
- Open the Beyond Off Street award on Contracts Finder (TRN2305) to confirm the awarded supplier and any follow-on commercial phase at the primary notice (see Sources)
- Search the SBRI programme pages for current and upcoming smart-meter, IoT and EV-charging challenge calls
- Check the Data Communication Company connectivity and access documentation for current developer and integrator onboarding routes
- Review recent Ofgem net-zero smart-energy publications for related metering and EV demand-side programmes
- Monitor Contracts Finder for new SBRI competitions tagged under CPV 38554000 electricity meters and 34144900 electric vehicles