An opportunity from the State to look into LTD Broadband and their ability to help Minnesota fully take advantage of RDOF funding. (Get more background.)

The telecommunications regulatory unit at the Minnesota Commerce Department (Department or Commerce) has the responsibility to conduct investigations on telecommunications matters,  advocate before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC or Commission) and enforce Minnesota statutes, rules, and orders of the Commission pertaining to telecommunications. The telecommunications regulatory unit at the Department is within the Division of Energy Resources. Minnesota Statutes section 216A.07 authorizes the Department to represent the public interest in all Commission proceedings.

The Department requests proposals for a technical expert or experts with engineering, financial and management expertise required to develop and successfully run gigabit broadband networks. The experts will determine whether LTD Broadband, LLC (LTD) has, or reasonably can be expected to obtain, the technical, managerial and financial resources to deploy and maintain a broadband network to meet expectations consistent with requirements of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) to serve approximately 102,000 locations, as provisionally awarded by the FCC.

A Request for Proposals (RFP) and required forms are available to view and download on the Minnesota Department of Commerce’s RFP website at https://mn.gov/commerce/industries/rfp/ through the submission deadline.

Proposals must be submitted by no later than Friday, August 22, 2022 at 11:59 PM Central Time. Proposals must be submitted to energy.contracts@state.mn.us. Instructions for submitting proposals are detailed in the RFP. Late proposals will not be considered.

This request does not obligate the State to complete the work contemplated in this notice.  The State reserves the right to cancel this solicitation. All expenses incurred in responding to this notice are solely the responsibility of the responder.