The County of Lycoming, Pennsylvania, is accepting proposals for a one-time contract to perform professional consulting services for the County involving the preparation of an engineering plan that verifies the service status of previously identified unserved/underserved structures, identifies broadband fiber deployment solutions to fill the gaps, locate areas best-suited for middle-mile and last-mile broadband infrastructure deployment, estimate the cost of required middle-mile and last-mile infrastructure, estimate the timeline for broadband infrastructure build-out, and develop an action and implementation strategy. As the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s largest county by land area, much of which is covered by rugged terrain, Lycoming County (County) contains many structures that are unserved or underserved by broadband internet service. The County is seeking the services of a qualified vendor to assist with planning for future broadband deployment efforts. Development of the Lycoming County Broadband Engineering & Deployment Readiness Plan will involve the following contractor activities: • Background Data and Asset Review • Field Survey of Existing Conditions/Mapping of Unserved and Underserved Areas • Determination of Potential Consumer Demand and Uptake Rates • Compilation of Public Survey Results • Gap Analysis and Fiber Route Identification • Regulatory and Legal Analysis • Development of Cost Estimates and an Action/Implementation Plan The Lycoming County Broadband Engineering & Deployment Readiness Plan is sponsored by the County of Lycoming with support from the Appalachian Regional Commission’s (ARC’s) Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative. This project is funded by a $50,000 grant from the ARC POWER Initiative program. The ARC has certain requirements and standards that must be met by the County of Lycoming and its contracted contractor. This Request for Proposals (RFPs) has been prepared to meet these requirements and standards. The ARC will monitor the project. The ARC’s grant agreement number is PW-21437.
