HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity of San Luis Obispo - FFA Revised Bid Structure Amendment RequestCity of San Luis Obispo, Public Works, 919 Palm Street, San Lui s Obispo, CA, 93401-3218, 805.781.7200, slocity.org August 20, 2026 California Public Utilities Commission Communications Division Attn: Maria Ellis, Director for Broadband Initiatives Subject: City of San Luis Obispo Broadband Implementation Project - FFA, Specification No. 2001063, Revised Bid Structure Amendment Request Dear Maria Ellis, After the City of San Luis Obispo’s recent discussions with the CPUC, the City would like to formally submit an amendment request to the City’s Broadband Project. The City would like to proceed with a revised bid structure that maintains service to the same unserved locations, but which prioritizes critical routes to ensure commercial-grade services while minimizing construction costs to fit within the FFA Grant award. This letter provides the background information that led to this request including information regarding the bid results for the Broadband Project and the City of San Luis Obispo’s proposed bid restructure. The City opened the first bids for construction on May 7, 2026; only one bid was received, for a total of $5,393,833.19, which was $3.19 million more than the funding allocated for construction. The City rejected the initial bid and re-advertised the project based on discussions with the CPUC., The City received new bids, including a low bid from Pramira, Inc. in the amount of $3,747,168. This represents a reduction of approximately $1.65 million from the initial bid; however, the project remains approximately $1.6 million above the amount that can be funded through the available Federal Funding Account (FFA) grant. In an effort to advance the project while remaining within the available grant funding, the City has developed a bidding approach that was previously discussed with the CPUC. The revised bid structure consists of a Base Bid and five Additive Alternates that reflects the previous high bids actually received, allowing the City to award a base project that fits with available funding and meets the grant requirements, while preserving the opportunity to construct up to 5 project segments that were initially designed to add redundancy and network support. Although the City's goal remains to construct the entire project during this phase, this approach provides the flexibility to complete the required portions of the project should the total bid again exceed the available funding.
The Base Bid maintains service to the same unserved locations. Additionally, removing the 5 Additive Alternates, if necessary, due to funding limits, does not compromise the ability of the network to provide data services at commercially-competitive levels of reliability, speed, or standards. Below is a description of the Base Bid and each Additive Alternate, including the justification for removing each segment from the Base Bid. Attached in the email is a kmz showing the project location as well as the proposed bid alternatives highlighted in white. The order presented below also reflects the City's recommended award priority, with Additive Alternate 1 representing the highest priority should bids be within budget and subsequent additive alternates listed in descending order of priority. Nipomo Street - Additive Alternative 1 This alternative of underground fiber connects City fiber from Palm Street to Higuera Street. This alternative creates a redundant loop in the Downtown core, which helps to prevent service outage issues that could be caused by damage to fiber optic infrastructure in the Downtown core. There are no unserved areas affected if this portion is removed. Los Osos Valley Road – Additive Alternative 2 This alternative includes aerial and underground fiber that connects City fiber from Calle Joaquin to Madonna Rd. This alternative closes a redundant loop on the southern side of the City, which helps to prevent service outage issues that could be caused by damage to fiber optic infrastructure in the South Higuera and Laguna Lake areas of the City. There are six (6) unserved locations: a Chevrolet/Mercedes dealership, Sun Day Carwash, a newly constructed motel, and 2 apparently random homes within a brand-new subdivision tract. We have confirmed via AT&T that all 6 locations currently have fiber access through AT&T and thus are not “unserved.” Grand Avenue – Additive Alternative 3 This alternative includes aerial and underground fiber that installs City fiber from Garfield Street to McCollum Street and includes a costly deep bore Caltrans crossing of Highway 101 and allows for service expansion to the neighborhoods bordering Cal Poly. This route was originally designed to connect 2 unserved locations (2 campus buildings) at Teach Elementary School; we have confirmed that Teach Elementary and its campus is already connected via high-speed fiber through the San Luis Coastal Unified School District’s fiber network and thus is not “unserved”. Tank Farm Road – Additive Alternative 4 This alternative includes aerial and underground fiber that connects City fiber from Innovation Way to Broad Street. This alternative closes a redundant loop between the South Higuera area and the Broad Street area of the City, which helps to prevent service outage issues that could be caused by damage to fiber optic infrastructure in the South Higuera and Broad Street areas of the City. If constructed, this section would require 11 pole replacements and soil removal from a remediation site. There are no unserved areas affected if this portion was removed.
Foothill Boulevard – Additive Alternative 5 This alternative includes aerial fiber installs fiber from Cuesta Drive to Patricia Drive. This alternative allows for further expansion of services down Foothill Boulevard and adds network structure and redundancy. There are no unserved areas affected if this portion was removed. The City is requesting the project amendment not only to revise the structure of the project, but also to allow enough time for the City to solicit new bids using the Base Bid + 5 Alternatives approach, and still construction the project. As such, this amendment request is submitted in conjunction with, and contingent upon, the extension request (previously submitted) being granted by the CPUC. Upon receipt of notice that the project amendment and extension request has been approved, we will immediately request the necessary authorization from our City Council to re-issue the bid using the Base Bid + 5 Alternatives approach and move quickly through bid selection to begin construction. We anticipate requesting authorization to re-bid the project on September 15, 2026, from our City Council, however, this would require notice of approval from the CPUC no later than September 3, 2026 in order to get the item onto a public meeting agenda for September 15. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and we can provide clarification or additional information as needed. Sincerely, _______________________________ Josh Erquiaga Information Technology Manager Public Works E jerquiag@slocity.org T 805.781.7526