[1st-mile-nm] Sandoval County Broadband Project

[Richard Lowenberg]

Forwarded message from subscriber Carroll Cagle:
----

Sandoval Revives Broadband Project

Albuquerque Journal – West Side edition
Friday, February 8, 2008
By Rosalie Rayburn
Journal Staff Writer

    Sandoval County Commission has breathed new life into its
problem-plagued countywide broadband project.
    Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved a six-month contract
with San Diego, Calif.-based Netlogix to provide project management
services to establish a backbone Internet link from the Sandoval County
Judicial Complex at Idalia and N.M. 528 to Cuba.
    The county will pay Netlogix $24,000 per month but reserves the right
to suspend payments up to two times in the event of an unforeseeable
delay, such as a delay in obtaining rights of way or other permits.
    The total project is estimated to cost $144,000. The money will come
from part of the $85 million incentive the county received for backing a
$16 billion Intel revenue bond.
    Netlogix will oversee management of the project. CH2MHill, an
international technology company, will be responsible for equipment
installation, under a separate contract, said Mike Good, Sandoval County's
IT director.
    County Manager Debbie Hays told the Journal she expects the CH2MHill
contract to be approved in about two weeks.
    Once the backbone project is completed, the next phase will be to
build a network to distribute services to customers, Good told the Journal
in an interview before the meeting.
    County staff have spent about two months scrutinizing the terms of the
contract with the help of an oversight committee composed of technology
experts.
    Committee member Moira Gerety, director of Computing Services at the
University of New Mexico, told the commissioners the time spent on
scrutiny will ensure there will be a complete record of the work and
invoices associated with the project.
    "We want to do it right," Gerety said.
    The Sandoval Broadband project originally began more than three years
ago.
    It was supposed to provide cheap high-speed wireless Internet service
to benefit schools, health care services and service providers throughout
the county.
    The county spent about $1.2 million but found the system didn't work.
    A year ago, the state auditor launched an investigation into the
project.
    The county is suing the company and individuals it initially hired for
the project.
    In May, the county approved a $20,000 contract with Netlogix to
conduct a survey to see what would be needed to create a working broadband
system.
    Netlogix, a national wireless consulting firm, has previously
estimated it would take about $950,000 to buy and install wireless
equipment to complete the network.