The City of Gary is open to models that helps achieve their service and financial goals. A successful proposer will be a partner to the City of Gary and is open to a growing/evolving relationship through other uses of the network once the base broadband need is met. The City views this as a long term relationship and is open to models that achieve both the City's and partner's need.

In addition to the $4M of committed ARPA funding, the City will work with the provider to support other funding streams but does not want the entire program to be dependent on being awarded to necessary grants or funding. A success respondent will have a financial plan and funding options to complete the proposed program.

The City of Gary is looking to evaluate three parts of the proposals at the same time: Technology, Partnership Model, and Partner.

Technology

The City of Gary desires to build a middle mile/government services fiber ring connecting government buildings and assets, which can then be extended to serve businesses and residents. The "last mile delivery" to the home or business can be wired, wireless or a mix with fiber as a priority for last mile residential service. The City of Gary is open to proposals that help them achieve their cost, reliability, feasibility, and scalability goals.

The City wants to understand the economic and technical challenges that may limit the deployment of symmetrical internet speeds of 500MBPS to 1GBPS to every residential , business and government location in Gary but at a minimum symmetrical 100MBPS is required. The City is very interested in the resulting residential, business, government service scaling to future bandwidth needs and that will factor in the evaluation. Reliability and cost are also key considerations to ensure resident adoption. A successful partner will be able to show they have a plan for consistent service, technology evolution and market competitive pricing.

The City of Gary is partnering with technology consultants to help them ensure the technology is the right fit for them and the area. The City of Gary wants to select a broadband service provider partner and a proposed solution that can grow with the community as it evolves and be adaptable as new technology is deployed. While there are not specific size/height requirements or limitations to above ground technology infrastructure, the City may consider aesthetics on how the proposed technology fits the existing landscape.

A successful partner will be able to propose a technology solution that achieve the connectivity goals and outline a plan for how the technology solution evolves over the lifecycle of the partnership. This applies both to last mile but also the government middle mile ring so that the City has options for future wireless and Smart City/IoT connections to the network.

The City of Gary is open to a staged rollout of the broadband capabilities based on fiber and last mile construction and are looking to begin rollout in early 2023 and to have complete coverage by 2026 at the latest.

Partnership Model

The City of Gary is seeking a public-private partnership (P3) or equivalent model, to achieve the outcomes their communities need. The City uses the term public-private partnership (P3) loosely to refer to a more general partnership between the City and a broadband provider(s), and does not necessarily entail a separate P3 entity.

The City believes that a private sector partner is in the best position to drive the needed technology, maintenance and operations with a governance model to ensure resident and business needs are met and the City does not want to add existing services and expertise to its existing services.

The City of Gary is open to different options of partnership models and lengths of time to achieve desired outcomes.

A successful partner will have a model where revenue from the P3 makes the model sustainable and does not require additional operating investment from the City of Gary. The City does not have an expectation for revenue to come back to the City's general fund from the P3 and expects P3 profits to be reinvested in service. The City is open to new revenue streams, but is not looking to manage new services. The City of Gary is open to different ownership models, but will favor models that do not require the City to be responsible for the management and maintenance of the fiber.

A successful proposer will suggest an approach for the P3/partnership model, including the necessary inputs from the City of Gary and the roles for the government and private partner(s). A successful partner will also be able to show a sustainable funding model, where finances come from, and different scenarios based on sign ups or tiers of service. The City of Gary is open to additional ways to monetize the fiber/broadband (with other services or communities) to support sustainability.

The City of Gary is looking for a proposer to have a recommended model and structure, but understand and expect that final models, terms, SLAs, governance, and financials will be negotiated with the recommended partner. Any partnership model will tie the deployment middle mile government fiber to the overall goals of the program.

Partner

The City of Gary seeks a partner to support design, build and deployment of the network necessary to deliver connectivity but also in creation, and management of the partnership model. A successful partner will be able to work with the City throughout the duration of implementation and operation.

At a minimum, the partner would need to manage the operations of the P3 including maintenance and upgrade of the technology, delivery of service, customer acquisition/billing, provide technical support for end users and general operations.

A successful partner will be able to clearly articulate roles and responsibilities of both the partner and the City of Gary, as well as any additional needs from the City of Gary beyond the initial capital investment (governance, right of way, permitting etc.). As other broadband and ISP providers exist in Gary, the City seeks to treat all current and future providers fairly.

A successful partner will be able to bring relevant case studies and experience as well as understanding and vision on market rates, SLAs meeting at least the Federal Communications Commissioner and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program minimum service standards (99.9954% uptime and less than or equal to 100ms round trip latency) and a plan for sustainability and growth.

The City seeks a partner(s) that can deploy or support the deployment of all parts of their government fiber ring through or in alignment with the P3. The City intends to use its statement ARPA funds to construct the middle mile/government services fiber ring by connecting public facilities across Gary but is open to discussing other models or additional funding.

Gary aims for this project to support the local economy and employment. While not a specific requirement of the project, the City of Gary will favor partners who seek to utilize local individuals and businesses as part of the construction, implementation and operation of their broadband solution.

Gary, Indiana Fiber and Broadband Partnership

5. Attachments