Tue 22 Jul 2008
Rolling stones gather no moss and UTOPIA is barrelling down the hill. There’s a new RFP up on their website looking for fiber splicing and testing to tentatively begin in August. The RFP closes on August 1, so it looks like they’re sticking to an aggressive expansion strategy. Good news for those of you staring at dark fiber in your town!
July 24th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Always good to see them on the fast track and they get points for their swift action.
I find it interesting that both UTOPIA RFP’s fail to mention the amount of work to be done or the time frame the work is to be done in?
No mention of the total amount of construction or splicing to be completed over how many weeks/months/years?
As the cost of any job includes both start up and break down costs, which can be spread over the size of the job it would seem hard to get the lowest price possible for a large job, if a smaller job is bid by the contractor. It also might be difficult to attract as many out of state bidders as their start up and break down costs are likely higher and they are more interested in larger jobs? Is this a large job? You really can’t tell from the way the RFP was written.
So while UTOPIA may select the lowest bid they receive, they may have received lower bids had the RFP been written differently?
By comparison, the iProvo construction RFP included, how many miles of fiber construction were expected, a deadline to complete the construction (with rewards for faster and penalties for slower work by the contractor) as well as a “not to exceed price” for the entire job.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:32 pm
It’s nice to speculate and read the positive out of such a publication, but I fear it’ll just lead to more disappointment. I was told we’d have service within three months when we moved to Payson… that was 2.5 years ago and all they’ve managed to accomplish is laying the conduit which cut a 12″ wide streak in my lawn. Troubles with financing and the runaround I get when I call Utopia leave me pessimistic that I’ll ever see it actually work. Meanwhile, I am financially raped by Qwest because it’s pretty much the only realistic alternative in my area. Here’s hoping I’m wrong, but I can’t count on it.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Payson should be at least 95% complete once this next round of construction completes.