FIBER OPTIC CABLE to extend middle-mile broadband infrastructure
1.1.1The Maryland Department of Information Technology (DoIT) is responsible for providing technical leadership and guidance to all agencies in the Executive Branch of the State of Maryland (the State). DoIT assures that State agencies implement successful information technology (IT) development projects in accordance with the mission of the agency and establishes direction for the productive and efficient use of information technology at the Statewide level.
1.1.2The State of Maryland was awarded competitive federal grant funds to extend middle-mile broadband infrastructure to each of Maryland's 23 Counties, the City of Baltimore, and the City of Annapolis, including many rural and underserved communities across the State. Expanding broadband is crucial for helping to create jobs, improve public safety, increase educational opportunities, improve health care delivery, and improve infrastructure for the Defense Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC). The project is grant funded through the U.S. Department of Commerce's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), as authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
1.1.3DoIT, in construction of the One Maryland Broadband Network (OMBN), will use the grant funds to build as much as 1,294 miles of fiber optics, linking together three independent broadband networks and extending affordable and abundant Internet access to more than 1,000 anchor institutions.
1.1.4The purpose of this Invitation for Bids is to obtain pricing for, and select a Contractor to provide to the State, fiber optic cable in order to build out the above described broadband infrastructure.
1.1.5It is the State's intention to obtain fiber optic cable, as specified in this Invitation for Bids, from a Contract between the successful Bidder and the State.
1.1.6DoIT intends to award a Contract to the Bidder whose bid is deemed favorable to the State.
1.1.7Bidders must be able to provide and meet all of the requirements requested in this solicitation.
1.1.8An award does not assure a Contractor that it will receive any business under the resultant contract(s).
