Category:  Action > Request for Proposals (RFP)

Ohio: Dayton - Then and Now

Bill Hill, director of Dayton's information and technology services department, has launched a pilot project that offers free wireless Internet, or Wi-Fi, in the city's public space. The program started in April and gives Wi-Fi, short for Wireless Fidelity, to citizens in one square mile of downtown's streets, sidewalks and streets. As the test run comes to a close at the year's end, Hill is taking bids on a permanent project that will expand free Wi-Fi to the 55 square miles of the city. He plans for free wireless for the entire city public space by the end of 2006. City IT director talks about Wi-Fi potential

I met Bill Hill at a PTI conference where I gave a keynote back in September. He is a true municipal wireless pioneer. We talked about the correlation between municipal wireless today and the advent of wireline telephony 100 years ago. He shared with me a picture of Dayton in 1895, and while I try to keep this space free of high bandwidth picture files for those readers who don't yet have broadband, I'll make an exception here because its pretty rich.

Bill sent me this picture after we met to show me the telephone utility poles with multiple crossbucks - look closely for the multiple cross bars on the poles - they are there for the different wireline owners. This is why the US decided to regulate telephony and give ATT a monopoly - multiple providers in one town did not make sense. And this is why ATT is where it is today - by the grace of our government which granted a monopoly, and its millions of ratepayers, whose regulated rates paid for the network that CEO Ed Whitacre at the new ATT is now so proud of - and this is why there's a race afoot by municipal broadband vendors to get out and get networks deployed in towns - those networks constitute a "natural monopoly" at least for a while, and competitors are much less likely to put in a secondary overlay network if a network is already in place in a town. It pays to go first in this industry.

Posted on November 21, 2005 at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)

Excelsio's Practical Pointers on Municipal Wireless RFPs

As the municipal broadband network trend grows, the RFP is gaining more attention as a means for cities and towns to procure a wired or increasingly, a wireless broadband network. Karl Edwards, VP of Operations at Excelsio Communications, has provided UnwireMyCity.com with this guide of practical pointers for municipal wireless RFPs. I recommend you look here before going any further with your plans for an RFP! (HINT: also, click on the lime green Request for Proposals above this article to go to the RFP section!)

Posted on July 05, 2005 at 05:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Best Practices RFP Tool

Greg Richardson at Civitium has seen one or two RFPs over the past year. No, we better move that number up. I'm guessing he's seen more than you can count on your fingers and toes, and to hear Greg tell it, the quality of the RFPs can range more widely than it should. While such is to be expected at this early stage of the budding municipal wireless industry, Greg and I talked about what we could do to improve the procurement process, and we came up with this paper on RFP best practices to help cities communicate better with the vendor community. Civitium put this tool together for exclusive distribution to UnwireMyCity readers. I recommend you download it today and use it as a guideline for your RFP. There are some great templates of other RFPs referenced at the end of the document.

Fact is, an RFP should not be the beginning of the purchasing process. Rather, it should reflect the many long weeks of planning and thorough, deliberate process your community has undergone to get ready for this important stage in the procurement process.

In short, an RFP is not the place for originality, nor is it the place for long-winded but vague vision statements. It is a communication document to the vendor community and if well done, it should minimize the need for questions afterwards. If it's well-written, you will get good results (and if it's not, get ready for a lengthy Q&A!) By building on the wisdom and experience of those towns and cities that have gone before you, you're increasing the odds that you'll have a satisfactory outcome in your procurement. Work smart, not hard. Learn from those who have gone before and start your RFP with this document.

Best of luck! Please let me know how it goes!

Posted on June 26, 2005 at 08:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack