The City of Fort Collins, Colorado, plans to issue an Request for Proposals (RFP) for a P3 for the construction of a broadband network.

The municipality would look to attract a third party to come into the community, finance and operate the network and provide services directly or through other retail providers.

The council authorized a “dual procurement” model at a 9 May meeting. In addition to authorizing the issuance of an RFP, the council also directed city staff to prepare ballot language for city residents to approve a “retail” broadband model in which the city would build and maintain the network. 

The City issued a Request for Information (RFI) in late August 2016. A team made up of staff and members of the Broadband Technical Group evaluated respondents based on their experience and capability, business model proposed, motivation and willingness to partner, business structure and financial strength. Nine companies responded and Allo Communications, Axia, Century Link, and Macquarie Capital were interviewed to learn more about their proposals.

Of the four interviewees, staff identified Axia to continue further discussions. Partners Group purchased Axia in July 2016 for US$280 million to provide infrastructure funding. Axia had proposed funding, building and maintaining a ubiquitous Active Ethernet network throughout the city within 2 - 3 years but in April, it withdrew its proposal and informed the City it would not move forward with its business model due to a structural issue with Partners Group.

During fall 2016, City staff presented four different model options: retail, wholesale, private third party (formerly known as “franchise model,” and moving forward as “3rd Party alternative”) and do nothing. In December, City Council provided feedback to continue to explore both the third party alternative and retail model.

The overall objective of the project is to bring reliable, Gig speed internet to the city. In 2016, 68 percent of citizens “strongly supported” or “supported” the City providing retail broadband services. Additional objectives include:

• Competitive pricing (residential market pricing at $70/month or less for 1 Gbps and an affordable internet tier)
• Universal coverage across the Growth Management Area;
• Underground service for improved reliability; and
• Timely implementation to providing services within a reasonable timeframe (less than five years).