Request For Proposals – WRPA Trumbull Broadband Preliminary Engineering Study

The Western Reserve Port Authority (“Port”) is seeking proposals from qualified firms to conduct a study to analyze the proposed completion of a fiber optic loop that will provide high-speed broadband service to regional businesses and historically underserved communities to aid in the region’s ongoing equitable economic recovery. The Trumbull County Broadband Preliminary Engineering Study (“Study”) will help implement the recommendations of Eastgate’s Regional Broadband Feasibility Study and ensure digital equity in the coal-impacted communities of Eastern Ohio Appalachia’s Mahoning Valley. The study area encompasses multiple Opportunity Zones.

The study will examine alternative broadband deployment routes including an analysis of existing providers who may already have ownership interests in proposed routes and an assessment of pole attachment costs. The study will also identify partnerships to deploy broadband services in the coal-impacted region and recommend innovative funding opportunities to leverage public-private investment in the project’s implementation.

The study will focus on implementing the recommendations of the recently completed (June 2021) EDA-funded Eastgate Regional Broadband Feasibility Study and provide fiber service in some of the most unserved areas of the region. It will serve as the next step in developing detailed recommendations and fundable projects to deploy middle network and last-mile broadband in underserved portions of the Trumbull County.

The proposal may be mailed or delivered to:

Krista Beniston
Western Reserve Port Authority
100 E. Federal Street, Suite 422
Youngstown, OH 44503

Click here to read the full RFP.