[1st-mile-nm] Sandoval Broadband -- next steps

[Carroll Cagle]

  Sandoval Tries Again 

on Broadband Project 

 

 

 

Albuquerque Journal

Saturday, November 3, 2007 





By <http://www.abqjournal.com/cgi-bin/email_reporter.pl>  Amanda Stevens 
Journal Staff Writer
    The Sandoval County Commission has selected a national wireless
consulting firm to get the county's beleaguered broadband project back on
track.
    The company, NetLogix, will take over as project manager, succeeding
Dewayne Hendricks and his company, Dandin Group, which abandoned the project
in May.
    A contract with NetLogix is being reviewed by the county attorney.
    In addition to authorizing the project management contract, the
commission approved CH2M Hill to provide design, engineering and
implementation services.
    The broadband project, which began almost three years ago, aims to
provide cheap ultra high-speed wireless Internet access to service providers
across the county.
    But the venture has been plagued with problems. The county has already
spent $1.2 million on a network that doesn't work and is awaiting the
results of an investigation by the state auditor concerning the project's
finances.
    In July, the county decided to put out a request for proposals for a
contractor to complete the project. It also decided to appoint a five-member
oversight committee to rank and recommend a bid from any of the proposals
submitted. There were six respondents.

The Broadband Oversight Commitee on Thursday recommended NetLogix and CH2M
Hill.
    Committee member Moria Gerety, director of Computing Services at the
University of New Mexico, also presented the committee's suggestions on how
the county should pursue the project from here:
    

*  Sign non-disclosure agreements and conflict-of-interest statements to
make sure everything is "above board."
    

*  Make sure the county adequately staffs purchasing, financial planning and
legal expertise.
    

*  Consider a performance bonding approach, a bond to guarantee satisfactory
completion of the project
    

*  Don't underestimate the time required for the project.
    "It's not time, necessarily, for technology," Gerety said. "Technology
is the easy part, it's the other stuff that's hard... It may take time, so
allow time for that. I know we all want to get things done- but we're going
to get them done right."
    

*  Provide status reports to the commission every month, including budget
and actuals, the schedule and "where we're at in that schedule and
delivery," Gerety said.

    "The Hawthorne Effect is important," County Commissioner David Bency
said. "If somebody knows they are being watched, they act differently. So
this commission needed somebody to watch somebody else and I think we all
feel comfortable that (the oversight committee) is doing that job as they
should.
    "The way (the committee) is reporting back to us as far as budget to
actual and time line is very critical."

    

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