A request for proposals to bring free wi-fi to North East Hamilton has been put forward for a second time.

The Bermuda Economic Development Corporation has called on qualified companies to help establish a public and private service across Court Street and surrounding areas.

Erika Smith, the executive director of the BEDC, confirmed that the RFP was the resurrection of an earlier project to bring free internet access to the area.

She explained: “We did select a vendor at the time, but we didn’t progress with the project because we were focused on Covid-19 and supporting the businesses through that period, and also focusing on the Economic Recovery Plan projects that were allocated to BEDC to work on.

“When we went to restart the project and look at the RFP and what we wanted to achieve, we said the scenario has changed and the state of the environment has changed, so we just decided to put out a new RFP to see what quotes we can get.”

Ms Smith said that the new RFP had a reduced area of coverage and would attempt to bring wi-fi to the “commercial core” of North East Hamilton.

Ms Smith defined this core as Court Street and “a block over” on each side.

She said that the vendor for the previous project had been told about the reshaping of the project.

Ms Smith added that because this version was substantially different from the previous one, interested parties were encouraged to reread the plan and reapply if they were still interested.

She said: “We’ve learnt more about wi-fi and how to deploy it in public spaces.”

The RFP requires the system to deliver a strong signal to the outdoor spaces of the coverage area.

The scope of services must include a system design, equipment and licensing provision, internet service identification, installation, system monitoring, and maintenance and upkeep.

It should also offer plans to recover monthly costs of internet service and technical maintenance support.

Inquiries must be submitted by 5pm on Wednesday. Responses to those inquiries will be published no later than March 5 at 5pm.

Vendors must submit their proposals by March 12 at 5pm. Proposals delivered after this time will be deemed noncompliant and will not be considered.

Vendors will be selected by April 2, although this date may be subject to change upon notification.

• Proposals may be submitted by e-mail to dhunt@bedc.bm, copying esmith@bedc.bm. E-mails containing proposals should include the subject line “BEDC NEH EEZ Wi-Fi Service RFP — .” RFP documents can be downloaded from theBermuda Economic Development Corporation website