27-OARnet Fiber Project 3 (Ashburn)

Description: The Ohio State University- 27-OARnet Fiber Project 3 (Ashburn) The purpose of this bid announcement is to identify prospective suppliers that have the capacity to satisfy the following requirements for The Ohio State University: OARnet maintains and delivers services across the state's 5,500-mile fiber-optic network backbone to support the connectivity relied upon every day by Ohio's higher education, K-12 education, state and local government, public broadcasting, health care and research communities. As a network provider, OARnet requires new or replacement equipment to maintain operations and/or expansion of the network and services. OARnet are seeking bidders for the installation of two strands of Dark Fiber that span from Ohio to the Equinix DC3 facility at 44470 Chilum Place Ashburn, VA, 20147, regeneration sites as needed. The overall focus of the project is: 1. To establish a fiber path capable of supporting current and future capacity requirements. 2. To provide an architecture capable of meeting rapidly changing technology requirements, thereby keeping Ohio competitive. 3. To expand Ohio's high-performance interconnect to national hyperscale providers. Complete specifications will be available with the release of the. 27-OARnet Fiber Project 3 (Ashburn). This is meant to be an announcement of the upcoming bid release ONLY. Minimum Requirements: The prospective suppliers must meet or exceed the following minimum requirements: · Respondent(s) is/are expected to be the manufacturer or a fully authorized dealer/distributor for any of the manufacturers it proposes. · INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR. Contractor is an independent contractor and nothing in this Contract shall be construed to create the relationship of agents, partners, joint venturers, associates, or employer and employee between OSU and Contractor · ASSIGNMENT/SUBCONTRACTING. The Contractor shall not assign or subcontract this Contract. All bidding companies shall be a full-service contractor. · Supplier must be able to demonstrate the capability of providing the required products/services by possessing adequate available resources, including personnel, facilities, systems, organization structure, operation controls, quality control and other related factors. · Non-negotiable, · Integral to the effective delivery and outcome of the scope of work and each supplier must comply, and Suppliers may not take exception to these conditions in their bid; or the bid proposal/quotation will be deemed as non-responsive and not be accepted by the Sourcing Department. · No substitution or changes from Bill of Materials will be accepted · Quote must be valid for 120 days If you are unable to meet these minimum requirements, please do not reply to this posting. ACTION REQUIRED: If your company would like to participate in The Ohio State University’s competitive bidding event for these products and services, please respond to this posting by communicating your company's interest in participating via the orange “Respond to Posting” tab in the Ariba Discovery tool by October 27, 2026. Proposed Schedule of Events: 27-OARnet Fiber Project 3 (Ashburn) Estimated RFP Opening: October 13, 2026 Estimated RFP Closing Date: November 6, 2026 Firm Bid dates will be listed in the 27-OARnet Fiber Project 3 (Ashburn) specifications. **Suppliers who have expressed interest in participating via Ariba Discovery will receive notification from Ariba Sourcing once the RFX opens.** Please reply by using the Ariba Discovery tool. Thank you, The Ohio State University Strategic Procurement Department