The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking financial advisor for the Pennsylavnia Fiber Optic P3 Project.

As we reported in mid July, Pennsylvania's Public-Private Partnership (P3) Board approved the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to install a fiber optic cable along the 550-mile Turnpike and extensions to provide communication capacity for the commission, state Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and other commonwealth needs.

Through the fiber project, the Turnpike Commission would establish a partnership through which the private partner would design, build, finance, operate and maintain (DBFOM) the fiber optic cable, allowing the partner to market and lease the remaining communications capacity after commission, PennDOT and commonwealth needs are met. A wireless mesh overlay would be installed over the fiber, which would be designed and built by the private partner and turned over to the Turnpike Commission in the future for maintenance.

The Turnpike Commission is pursuing a P3 model for the project because bonding the fiber's construction would take away resources from other Turnpike capital improvements. The partnership also leverages private-sector expertise in installing, operating, marketing and maintaining fiber optic cable in a region that could be attractive to private-sector connections in nearby metropolitan areas.

The deadline for interested bidders to submit their proposals is on or before 2:00 PM local time on August 18, 2016

You can read the tender document here.