Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Broadband topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bedford County officials welcome $12.5 million fiber award, reject incomplete bid for three new towers
Summary
County officials described tentative broadband awards that include two satellite providers, two fiber projects and a $12.5 million open-access fiber award covering about 1,400 homes; commissioners also rejected a single incomplete bid for three southeastern-county towers and reissued the solicitation.
Bedford County commissioners on Sept. 9 reviewed tentative awards from the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority and voted to reject a lone, incomplete bid for three new county towers while reissuing the solicitation.
The county’s planning director, Stephanie (Planning Director), told commissioners the broadband equity, access and deployment awards include two satellite providers — SpaceX and Amazon — plus two fiber awards. "One project," she said, "was awarded $12,500,000 to Bedford County to serve nearly 1,400 homes" through an open-access network led by ecommunity holdings as a secondary applicant for the Alleghenies Broadband Incorporated regional effort.
The open-access model, Stephanie explained, means a single entity will run fiber and permit retail providers to lease capacity, which the county projects should enable competition and lower prices for residents. BrightSpeed received the two fiber awards covering East St. Clair Township and West Providence Township, she said. Stephanie also noted county efforts to coordinate applicants and encourage proposals, including a courthouse outreach event for providers.
Commissioners voted to reject the single bid received from Above Wireless LLC for a county broadband infrastructure project after the project engineer, ATCS Inc., reported the submission lacked required documentation such as bid bonds and performance bonds. "They did not provide the required documents within the bid," Stephanie said. The rejection motion was carried so the county could republish the solicitation and hold a special meeting to open new bids in September.
County officials said broadband expansion remains a multi‑year effort in Bedford. Commissioners also noted plans for up to nine new cell towers in the county to improve mobile coverage; the tower work is separate from the state awards and will involve future permitting and procurement.
The commissioners did not take a formal vote to accept the state awards during the meeting; Stephanie presented the award allocations and the county will continue to coordinate with awarded providers and the regional Alleghenies Broadband Incorporated partnership.
Ending: County staff said they will post the new bid notice in the paper and on the county website and will seek broader local interest from prospective tower providers and general contractors ahead of the September special bid opening.
