Beaufort_County_Broadband_Project_RFP.docx

Beaufort County Broadband Project

Beaufort County is seeking qualified proposals from private provider(s) to deploy, operate, and maintain a broadband internet network which delivers high-speed broadband to currently unserved or underserved premises in unincorporated Beaufort County.

SECTION ONE

SCOPE OF WORK

1. Introduction This RFP reflects the commitment of Beaufort County to ensure high-speed broadband is available to as many residents and businesses in unincorporated Beaufort County (hereinafter primarily referred to as “County”) as possible. The successful Internet Service Provider(s) or other organization(s) responding to this RFP (hereinafter referred to as “Applicant”) will be expected to deploy a network that meets the eligibility requirements set forth in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), PL 117-2 (March 11, 2021), which amends Title VI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 801 et seq.). Successful applicants will demonstrate a clear and achievable plan to deliver high-speed, reliable, and affordable broadband communications services in one or more un/underserved area in unincorporated Beaufort County (see Figure 1).

The County is offering one-time direct capital funding to qualified and committed private sector partners to support deployment. Furthermore, to achieve their goal, the County understands it may need to fund more than one Applicant to achieve the County’s desired solution.

The purpose of the direct capital funding will be to partially defray the cost of the infrastructure necessary to meet the requirements of the RFP, which might include construction or improvement of fiber optics, cabinets, pedestals, poles, pole attachments, CPE, etc. (collectively this infrastructure is hereinafter referred to as “Assets”). Applicants may submit multiple approaches to this RFP within a single proposal that differ in service areas, technology, requested County funding, timing of deployment, eligibility requirements or any combination thereof.

Through this RFP, the County seeks proposals from Applicants to build, operate, and maintain Assets to provide underground fiber broadband internet service throughout one or more geographic area(s) of unincorporated Beaufort County.

The County seeks proposals that state clearly how many premises will be covered and at what levels of service.

Figure 1: Unincorporated Beaufort County Underserved/Unserved The Applicant shall clearly and thoroughly define any proposed solutions or technical alternatives which may not meet the eligibility requirements of ARPA due to constraints with geography, topography, or excessive costs, but will expand high-speed internet to un/underserved premises.

2. Project Overview, Purpose, and Objectives

The following are the County’s requirements and goals under this RFP.

2.1. Provide High-Speed Internet Service to Unserved and Underserved Premises

The County seeks to make available high-speed broadband services to as many premises in the County as possible, specifically to underserved or unserved households and businesses, defined as those that are not currently served by a wireline connection that reliably delivers at least 25 Mbps download speed and 3 Mbps upload speed.

The high-speed broadband services shall specifically provide a service designed to reliably meet or exceed a symmetrical speed of 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload; or in cases where the symmetrical 100/100 Mbps service is not practicable, provide a service designed to reliably meet or exceed 100 Mbps download and at least 20 Mbps upload speeds, and be scalable to a minimum of 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload. Interim Rule, 31 C.F.R § 35.6(e)(2), 86 Fed. Reg. 26786, 26823.

The purpose of the RFP is to seek fiber broadband solutions from one or more Applicants proposing one or multiple solutions over all or portions of the unincorporated county. From these RFP responses, the County will select the best Applicant(s), to finalize project details by creation and execution of a contract with the County.

The County does not intend to enter the broadband business as a competitive service provider.

The County does not intend to own the network infrastructure assets it financially supports through this RFP process.

The County does not intend to operate the network enterprise it financially supports through this RFP process. The network enterprise will be owned and operated by the selected Applicant, and/or Applicant’s subcontractor, as per the contract to be negotiated with the County.

If the Applicant is currently providing service in some areas of the County, the County requires that the Applicant provide similar pricing and service tiers for data services the Assets in the newly served areas.

This request for proposals does not constitute a contract for services performed or to be performed.

The County intends the project be deployed in a continuous fashion commencing immediately upon contract execution.

2.2. Beaufort County Financial Contribution & Federal Funding Requirements

The County will provide a direct capital dollar contribution for the project to one or more Applicants under the terms and timelines specified in a negotiated contract. The County funding will be released upon completion and acceptance of agreed upon project milestones.

All deployment, maintenance, and operational costs, including customer acquisition and customer service, will be the responsibility of the Applicant.

The capital financial contribution of the County is explicitly designed to compensate and adjust the overall project’s financial metrics to acknowledge that the selected Applicant will be creating and making available specific, pre-defined broadband products within one or more specified geographic areas of Beaufort County. Contiguous geographic areas are not required.

3. Service Areas The County seeks to close the broadband availability gap throughout unincorporated Beaufort County. Address level data is also available as a web service upon request. Applicants are encouraged to supplement this data with other available sources. Applicants may also provide proof of underserved areas using proprietary data or other state, federal, or private sources. Applicants are encouraged to provide response information engineered to the highest level of detail possible for an RFP of this nature. Beaufort County GIS mapping resources can be found at: https://www.Beaufortcountysc.gov

4. Project Requirements

The following section is intended to describe the network and product requirements associated with the Rural Broadband Coverage project.

4.1. Technical Requirements

Applicants’ proposed solutions should meet the following technical performance requirements:

4.1.1 System designed to 99.9% uptime.

4.1.2 Network backhaul capacity per base station site must be 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) minimum, but capable of scaling to accommodate the maximum customer capacity as designed.

4.1.3 Total Internet peering capacity must accommodate the aggregate backhaul bandwidth of all base stations be scalable if implementing a hub-and-spoke design.

4.1.4 All products proposed MAY NOT contain monthly data caps or bandwidth/speed reduction due to metered usage.

4.1.5 If Applicant has a technology or solution which does not meet the speed eligibility requirements of ARPA but the technology or solution will reliably serve un/underserved premises with high-speed internet, Applicant is encouraged to submit a proposal which clearly identifies levels of services obtainable and the anticipated number of premises able to be served.

4.2 Open Access Requirements

There are no requirements for open access related to this RFP.

4.3 Network Construction Standards

Applicants should expect that upon successful completion of a negotiated contract for deployment of a rural broadband network, and commencement of work by the selected Applicant, the County may provide inspection oversight to ensure compliance with design and deployment standards per the negotiated contract.

The selected Applicant will fully engineer and permit the project prior to commencement of construction as a function of the negotiated contract.

Deployment of all fiber and fiber-related infrastructure must comply with all National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) codes and laws at the local, state, federal, and private land levels as they pertain to fiber optic installations.

The selected Applicant will be expected to have all routes surveyed by a licensed surveyor as well as provide the County with GIS/CAD mapping showing the locations of all facilities deployed and service areas of engineered coverage design(s). The County has available certain GIS layers that may prove useful to the applicant, which can be found at: https://www.Beaufortcountysc.gov. However, Applicant shall note that GIS layers for parcel lines, public easements, and right of ways do not suffice as a survey of for public routes/sites.

Other construction requirements that are the responsibility of the Applicant include:

4.3.1 Provide the County with monthly reports of activities and progression towards milestones, such reports to include information as required by the county.

4.3.2 Provide the County with ongoing service statistics regarding adoption rates of service(s).

4.3.3 Work with all appropriate agencies to obtain all required right of way approvals.

4.3.4 Obtain all required permits and private easement approvals.

4.3.5 Coordinate project deployment with all utilities.

4.3.6 Obtain any necessary contractor licensing issued by the Beaufort County Building Services.

4.3.7 Provide on-site construction inspections to ensure design.

4.3.8 Coordinate and resolve third party or private claims.

4.3.9 Repair any and all damages to private property.

4.3.10 At all times, maintain an adequate staff of experienced and qualified employees for efficient performance.

4.3.11 At all times, furnish or perform any services in a safe, proper, and workmanlike, manner.

4.4 Network Equipment, Design and Technical Specifications

The Applicant must provide network architecture documentation. These should include:

4.4.1 Fiber/circuit utilization

4.4.2 Equipment to be used

4.4.3 Active equipment locations

4.4.4 Logical equipment designs and specifications

4.4.5 Any other documents necessary to define and describe the intended architecture.

Network architecture should consider a redundant topology that provides resiliency in the network. While not every component of the network can be redundant, where feasible the Applicant should take steps to make service offerings as resilient as possible. It is expected that an Applicant may have some preexisting core Assets (fiber, towers, hut sites, etc.) they intend to utilize in providing services to the proposed service areas. Applicants utilizing preexisting infrastructure should describe how these Assets fit into their proposed network architecture. The Applicant will be responsible for selecting equipment that can deliver the service as outlined in section 4.1.

4.5 Network Test and Acceptance Standards

The Applicant will be required to demonstrate network performance to specified test standards. These standards will need to be met for services offered and infrastructure built or contracted. Speeds will be tested and proven as negotiated in the contract.

4.6 Presence in County

While the successful Applicant will receive a capital dollar subsidy from the County, the Applicant may also be contributing significant capital and operational Assets and shall demonstrate they can successfully deliver broadband where the network is required to offer service.

A significant component of the scoring criteria will be the County’s assessment of the Applicant’s proposed presence within the County, demonstrating its ability to provide adequate service and support to its customers.

4.7 Network Deployment Timing

The County intends the project be deployed in a continuous fashion commencing immediately upon contract execution.

The County requires that all Rural Broadband Project(s) be completed prior to September 2024, preferably sooner, or by the negotiated date of the contract with the County. Within their RFP response, Applicants shall provide a proposed schedule for implementation that reflects the most expeditious timeline possible, including engineering, permitting, licensing, construction, and validation.

4.8 Service Requirements

Applicants’ proposed solutions should meet the following service requirements:

4.8.1 All residential and commercial services within the agreed territory are able to request and receive service install perpetually at no cost for the fiber install. Households that initially decline service at rollout may request service at a later date with no additional costs incurred.

4.8.2 Any costs for in-home hardware must be equal to what you would require for someone wishing to sign up for service as a customer elsewhere in your service territory.

4.8.3 Services are to be offered perpetually or until such time this infrastructure is no long viable technology for broadband delivery.

4.8.4 This infrastructure may not be sold, only transferred if you were to be acquired in a merger, in which case the same terms would need to be disclosed to the firm acquiring them.

4.8.5 Applicant must already service fiber infrastructure within 15 miles of the proposed project area.

image1.jpg