Illinois broadband project rejects first round of bids

Gov. Pat Quinn's (D-IL) ambitious, $96.4-million project to expand high-speed Internet connections Downstate is off to a stumbling start.

Illinois officials rejected all bids last week to install more than 1,000 miles of state-owned fiber-optic cable from Chicago to Collinsville after disqualifying more than half of the contractors for not following Illinois procurement rules. The project was rebid April 29. The cable installation throughout 55 counties in East-Central Illinois is the largest of five regional fiber-optic projects statewide that won a total of $173.9 million in broadband stimulus funding last year, and it's the only one directly managed by the state. The East-Central portion uses more than a third of the stimulus funds and about half of the $60.2 million in Illinois matching funds for all five projects, most of which are starting construction or about to name contractors. The state is operating under a deadline: The improved network has to be up and running by June 2013 to qualify for federal broadband stimulus funding the state won last year.