Frontier Internet circuits, Beaver and Martinsburg

The West Virginia Department of Administration Purchasing Division, on behalf of the Educational Broadcasting Agency (Department 0439), is soliciting proposals for dedicated Internet access fiber circuits to serve broadcast operations in Beaver and Martinsburg, West Virginia. This is a sole source direct award procurement under West Virginia Code 5A-3-10c for delegated procurements valued between $5,000.01 and $50,000. The procurement requires two synchronous fiber circuits: one 100 Mbps circuit for the Martinsburg microwave tower site and one 1 Gbps circuit for the Beckley facility, both essential for supporting television broadcast delivery and lottery services with redundancy protection. The circuits must provide backup capacity when microwave systems fail and must be independent of the incumbent provider Segra's network infrastructure. Prospective bidders must meet specific technical qualifications including the ability to provide synchronous fiber connections, use fiber independent of both Segra and Frontier networks, offer no non-recurring build-out costs, and provide a minimum of 32 contiguous public IP addresses for each location. The solicitation closed on July 24, 2025, at 4:00 p.m., with installation required by September 1, 2025, and a 60-month service term. The primary buyer contact is Cecil Dale Malcomb at (304) 254-7858 or dmalcomb@wvpublic.org.

The procurement is designated as a sole source determination with Frontier Communications identified as the only qualified vendor capable of meeting the specified requirements. The justification for sole source award is based on vendor availability constraints—the Martinsburg location's remote geography limits vendor options, and the Beckley circuit requirement for fiber separate from incumbent provider Segra leaves Frontier as the only viable alternative. The contract includes a monthly recurring charge of $1,020.00 and a one-time non-recurring charge of $40.00, which encompasses IP address blocks for each location, resulting in a total contract value of approximately $61,260 over the 60-month service term ($1,020 × 60 months plus $40 setup fee). The services will be provided to the Educational Broadcasting Agency's WSWP-TV facility located at 124 Industrial Park Road, Beaver, West Virginia 25813. No specific set-aside designations or restrictions for disadvantaged enterprises were noted in the solicitation documents.