Community Wi-Fi Expansion

The City of New Haven is requesting proposals for a Community Wi-Fi Expansion project serving the New Haven Green, with proposals due August 18, 2026 at 11:00 AM and questions due August 12, 2026 at 5:00 PM.

The scope covers design, installation, configuration, testing, and support of a complete outdoor public Wi-Fi system across approximately 16 acres of the Upper, Lower, and Temple Green areas. The contractor must furnish all labor, supervision, engineering, project management, materials, equipment, permits, and incidental work to deploy approximately fifteen outdoor-rated Wi-Fi 6/6E access points on existing or new poles, light fixtures, rooftops, and other structures; dedicated fiber-optic backhaul to a Community Anchor Institution served by the Connecticut Education Network; enterprise-grade switches, routers, PoE/PoE+ equipment, and network electronics; NEMA-rated outdoor enclosures; electrical and power connections; solar power and backup UPS equipment where utility power is unavailable; fiber and communications cabling with terminations; grounding, bonding, and surge and lightning protection; WPA3 security configuration; VLAN segmentation; eduroam and RADIUS authentication; centralized network management with usage reporting and quality-of-service controls; RF coverage testing; fiber certification; speed and throughput testing; system commissioning; operator training; and as-built documentation. The system must deliver a minimum of 1 gigabit-per-second symmetrical download and upload speeds and achieve at least 90 percent coverage at -67 dBm or better.

The contract term is one year with no optional extensions; all renewals remain at the City's sole discretion. The City applies prevailing wage rates and requires compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity obligations, Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act, and affirmative action measures for minority contractors and women business enterprises. Proposals must be submitted in two parts: technical (no pricing) and separate price proposal with lump-sum pricing and detailed cost breakdowns. The City will evaluate proposals using weighted scoring: coverage area and access point design (20 points), bandwidth and backhaul connectivity (18 points), network security and authentication (15 points), power and infrastructure (12 points), network management and monitoring (15 points), environmental resilience and scalability (10 points), and standards compliance and interoperability (10 points). Proof of insurance (minimum $1 million General Liability and $1 million Abuse and Molestation if applicable), a Non-Collusion Affidavit, and a Certificate of Non-Arrearage are required prior to award. The City reserves the right to reject all proposals and to terminate for convenience with 21 days' notice or for cause with five business days' notice to cure. Contracts valued at $25,000 or more require the Mayor's signature. Subcontracting of professional services is prohibited.