August 5, 2010
Merit Network, Inc. has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the outside plant (OSP) construction portion of the REACH-3MC network infrastructure project. Proposals will be received until August 31, 2010 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 and construction of approximately 1,017 miles of fiber-optic cable in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, which will include both aerial and underground.
The bid response should include the cost required to construct and deploy 1,017 miles of OSP fiber infrastructure. Merit will provide all of the materials needed for the construction project with the exception of the nuts and bolts required for pole attachments, which should be supplied by the construction contractors.
This RFP is for OSP construction only. Merit is not seeking bids for networking hardware or materials in this RFP.