MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The tentative timeline to expand broadband in Monongalia County is taking shape.
The actual plan is months away, but several key dates in future will determine details of the plan and the contractor, according to Monongalia County Commission President Sean Sikora.
First the technical review committee will be sifting through details to determine which of the ten firms from across the country who submitted RFPs will advance to the next stage of the process.
The county’s broadband committee includes Sikora, county IT director Jeff Welsh, county planner Andrew Gast-Bray, MECCA-911 representative Mike Fortney, Erik Carlson from the Morgantown Area Partnership, Ron Lytle from the Mon County Board of Education and MMPO director Bill Austin.
“The committee going to meet Monday to see if there are any questions or issues regarding the technical evaluation,” Sikora said.
The commission has allocated $250,000 for expansion, but some of the $20.5 million expected in federal COVID relief may also be used.
“We’ll open up the cost proposals Wednesday,” Sikora said. “Then we’ll be able to do our first determination of competitive range.”
The Wednesday meeting will determine who travels to Morgantown for a more indepth presentation for the committee.
“Depending on what that breakdown is we’ll invite one, two, three of those entities for oral evaluations,” Sikora said. “Then we’ll make our decision from there.”
It’s possible the vendor selection could be made by the end of month.
“Most of them indicated about six months to come up with the deliverable which is the plan,” Sikora said. “The comprehensive plan for the whole county.”
The expansion is expected to eliminate connectivity issues for families who struggled with online learning during the pandemic. Then, school officials loaded hotspot equipment on buses that were located in remote areas of the county to solve the issue.