Request for Proposal for Maintenance for the Greater Austin Area Telecommunications Network (GAATN)

The Austin Independent School District (AISD), serving as the financial services provider for the Greater Austin Area Telecommunications Network (GAATN)—a consortium of seven local governmental entities including the City of Austin, Travis County, Austin Community College, Lower Colorado River Authority, The University of Texas at Austin, and the State of Texas (DIR)—is soliciting proposals for comprehensive maintenance services for its approximately 400-mile fiber-optic telecommunications network across Travis County and Austin City jurisdictions. The procurement seeks a qualified maintenance contractor to provide 24/7/365 emergency repairs, troubleshooting and problem diagnosis, routine plant inspections occurring at least biannually, National Joint Utility Notification System (NJUNS) ticket management, tree trimming, pole transfers, make-ready requests, and super node maintenance for both aerial plant (approximately 365 miles) and buried plant (approximately 35 miles) consisting of four super rings and seven sub-rings. The contractor must staff a project manager with five years of outside plant experience, a primary inspector with nine years of fiber construction experience, emergency response crews, placing and splicing crews, and design personnel trained in Bentley Fiber and AutoCAD, while maintaining secure warehouse space within the Greater Austin Area measuring up to 400 square feet at no additional cost to house emergency repair inventory. Pricing shall be submitted in two components: Exhibit A for annual base contract pricing covering all routine services and Exhibit B for unit pricing on 125 distinct line items for emergency repairs and additional field work invoiced separately, with materials priced at cost plus 15% markup. The RFP was issued February 13, 2026; an optional pre-proposal meeting is scheduled for March 3, 2026 at 10:00 AM CST via Microsoft Teams, questions are due March 10, 2026 at 5:00 PM CST through the AISD Bonfire Portal with responses posted March 13, 2026, and proposals are due March 25, 2026 at 2:00 PM CST. Evaluation criteria include contractor qualifications, financial stability (demonstrated through two years of income statements and balance sheets), technical competency in fiber-optic maintenance and GAATN Technical Guidelines compliance, and proposed pricing, with tentative GAATN Board consideration scheduled for May 5, 2026.

The RFP contains no specific set-aside designations for disadvantaged enterprises, though contractors must comply with prevailing wage rate requirements under Texas Government Code Chapter 2258 and submit mandatory disclosures including conflict of interest questionnaires (Form CIQ), interested parties disclosures (Form 1295), certifications regarding Israel boycotts, terrorism concerns, energy company boycotts, firearm entity discrimination, and foreign ownership restrictions related to critical infrastructure, along with bid certifications attesting to compliance with anti-bribery and corruption statutes. A proposal guaranty of five percent of the total proposed fees for Contract Year 1 is required in the form of a cashier's check or proposal bond, and the selected contractor must maintain performance and payment bonds or maintenance bonds at 100% of the contract amount, commercial general liability insurance with $2,000,000 per occurrence limits, and workers' compensation insurance naming GAATN as an additional insured. The initial contract term spans two years from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028, with options for three additional one-year renewals, and GAATN reserves the right to contract with multiple maintenance providers with pro rata reduction of base contract amounts if additional vendors are awarded contracts. Liquidated damages of $750 per day accrue for unexcused delays, and a ten percent retainage is held from quarterly payments and evaluated during the final quarter of the fiscal year. While no specific budget range is disclosed in the RFP documents, the base annual pricing structure encompasses personnel staffing, bonding, insurance, 200 tree-trimming spans, 100 cable transfers, 100 aerial pole transfers, up to 1,000 cable marking tags, replacement connectors and patch cords, meeting attendance, and warehouse provision, indicating a substantial five-year procurement of critical telecommunications infrastructure maintenance services.