9/12/2023
1 Broadband Update
History
Council approves ARPA funding for broadband - December 2021 Council approves ARPA funding for broadband - December 2021 MOU With County of Merced for Broadband Strategic Plan – May 2022 MOU With County of Merced for Broadband Strategic Plan – May 2022 City letter of support for County LATA Broadband Grant – Sept 2022 City letter of support for County LATA Broadband Grant – Sept 2022 City and County Publish RFP’s for Broadband Partnership Opportunities– Current City and County Publish RFP’s for Broadband Partnership Opportunities– Current 1 2
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2 What are the components to A Broadband Network?
Underserved locations within City Limits (CPUC Map) ~1,300 locations 3 4
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3 Last Mile Federal Funding Account Grant (FFA)To provide funding to construct last mile infrastructure to unserved and underserved residential location for broadband access via wireline services-County of Merced projects earmarked $26.2 million-Grant Opening June 2023-Grant Closing September 29th, 2023City and County publish RFPs for partnership opportunities to apply for FFA grant City RFP “Type 2 – Publicly-owned, Privately Serviced”County RFP “Type 4 – Private Developer Open Access" City RFP
County RFP5
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4 Locations to be served in City proposed RFP~ 870 locations Why these locations?CalEnviroScreen 4, 2022 Median Household Income, Socioeconomic Vulnerability Index, and proximity to existing City intuitional network infrastructure. 7 8
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5 City Received Two RFP Responses
-Previous Broadband Federal Government grant recipient-Provides Broadband services in Merced County-Partnership with Counties-Did not provide Letter of Intent-Did not provide Match, Capital or Revenue Sharing plan-Previous Broadband Federal Government grant recipient-Active P3 Broadband partnerships with City’s-Proposed 70 /30 revenue share agreement * -Did not provide Letter of Intent-Did not provide Construction estimates-Proposed City pay for network maintenance and backhaul expenses.
County RFP1: Two Responses Received2: Vendor(s) Shall Construct, Own, and Operate broadband network.9 10 9/12/2023
6 City Partnership with Cal.NetCity Partnership with County of MercedRisk RiskDirectly competing for grant funding vs County of MercedUnknown vendor(s)Possible cost overruns during construction Unknown locations servedFuture operational repairs and maintenance costs vs revenue receivedUnknown timelinesSupply chain constrains and grant timelinesStaff and vendor expertise Reward RewardOwnership of broadband infrastructure Turnkey Services by vendor(s)Possible Future Revenue Reduced budget concernsKnown location of services No unexpected operational costsIncreased broadband market competition Economy of scale FFA Grant Scoring Rubric vs County of Merced Vendor staffing Seeking Council DirectionOption 1:(Staff recommended): Bring back to council a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the County of Merced to utilize City of Merced ARPA fund to have a County awarded vendor(s) construct, own, and provide broadband services within the City of Merced limits, as part of the County of Merced FFA grant program.Option 2:Hold a special council meeting adopting a resolution for the City to submit a FFA grant application in Public-Private Partnership model with Cal.Net and utilizing ARPA funds as a capital Match. 11 12