Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Local officials recently extended the deadline for the submission of proposals from consultants for the planning and design – and ultimately the construction of – the necessary infrastructure for the provision of Internet broadband service to designated neighborhoods in the county.
The deadline was extended to give contractors more time to respond. The new deadline for the submission of the proposals was Wednesday, Oct. 14, with the contract to be awarded on Thursday, Nov. 5, if all goes according to schedule.
The Request for Proposals (RFP) acknowledges upfront that the funding for the project is coming from the Trust Fund established by the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourism Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act (RESTORE Act) in 2012.
Which fund is more commonly known as Gulf Restoration Trust Fund, and whose billions derive from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, the damages it caused to the Gulf’s coastal communities and the settlement that the federal government reached with British Petroleum (BP) and others responsible for the disaster. Of which funds Jefferson County’s share is slated to be millions for various projects that help restore Florida’s Gulf coast.
The amount of RESTORE Act money awarded to Jefferson County for this first phase of the broadband project is $65,450, according to Heather Pullen, senior public affairs consultant with Langton Consulting, the firm hired by the county to assist it in accessing the RESTORE Act funding.
“A part of the planning and design phase is to determine the construction budget necessary to complete the goals and the objectives to the overall project,” emailed Planning Official Shannon Metty, one of the county staff involved in the broadband project.
All told, the project is expected to cost about $1,243,000, with additional funding possibly to come from broadband providers.
The RFP takes note that Jefferson County has private fiber optic networks already in place, but
that it lacks the necessary infrastructure components such as the end point connections to provide broadband services in many unincorporated areas.
It makes the argument that the county needs to upgrade and expand its existing fiber optics infrastructure network if it is to support a diverse and sustainable economy.
It is the expressed preference of the county that whoever the consultant that it hires be associated with a current or a proposed future network services provider that has plans to expand the existing network or proposes to establish a new network.
The RFP identifies the target areas for the upgrade and expansion of services as U.S. 19 North in the vicinity of the former Jefferson Kennel Club; Asheville Highway and Aucilla Shores area; Government Farms area; Aucilla Forest area; U.S. 90 West and Main Street area; U.S. 90 West in the vicinity of Tallamont Drive, Desearcy Lane, Rhea Street, Tally Hills Drive and Sundance; Linton Place; Christmas Acres; Old Lloyd (including the I-10 Interchange and Heritage Hills); South Lloyd and the Sanctuary Subdivision; Bishop Cemetery area; and Waukeenah.
“The purpose of this project is to identify the needs and implement solutions to improve fiber optic infrastructure in rural Jefferson County,” the RFP states.
It calls for the bidders to provide a clear and concise plan that at minimum includes the type and cost of the equipment required for the upgrade, the types and costs of the permits required to complete the construction work, and the expected timeline for completion of the construction.
County officials’ plan is to later secure additional funds from the RESTORE Act program to construct the broadband system network once the planning and design phase is completed, with the county and federal government to hold a vested interest in the infrastructure until the network’s useful life has terminated. At which point the county will negotiate the ownership of the broadband network. The specifications call for the system to have a minimum useful life of 20 years.
The proposal calls for a “hard wired” system only; no wireless transmission to customers will be considered.
Others of the county’s stated requirements for the system:
The system should be designed to include sufficient capacity to allow for future growth to accommodate new customers.
The network should provide high-speed data connection to the Internet, as well as voice services at a subscriber option.
The network is not expected to provide Cable TV service, but it must be fully capable of accommodating Internet Protocol Television and other Internet based video services.
Once the bids are received, a selection review committee will review the proposals and make a recommendation to the Jefferson County Commission sometime in November.