April 5, 2011
Merit Network, Inc. has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the outside plant (OSP) construction portion of the REACH-3MC II network infrastructure project. Proposals will be received until April 22, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. (EDT).
Merit has been awarded a grant by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP) as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The purpose of the grant will be to fund the engineering, construction and deployment of approximately 1,200 miles of new optical fiber in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Both aerial and underground construction techniques will be employed. The BTOP-funded project is called REACH-3MC II and along with Merit, there are multiple sub-recipients participating in the project.
The bid response should include cost required to construct and deploy all or part of 1,200 miles of OSP fiber infrastructure. Merit will provide all materials needed for the construction
This RFP is for OSP construction only. Merit is not seeking bids for networking hardware or materials in this RFP.