Plan for free WiFi on interstates on hold
Wire Services
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
SPRINGFIELD - Motorists can forget about using their laptop computers at Illinois interstate rest stops for the time being.
Only one vendor responded to an Illinois Department of Transportation request for proposals to provide free wireless Internet access (known as WiFi) at the state's rest stops. However, the vendor's offer was rejected because the company missed a mandatory prebid meeting conducted by the agency in October.
Consequently, IDOT is back to square one in its efforts to provide WiFi to the motoring public. IDOT hoped to have the service available in 2007, but that timetable is uncertain now.
"Certainly, we knew this was aggressive in that we hoped we could provide the service with no charge to the state and no charge to the consumer," said IDOT spokesman Matt Vanover. "We will re-evaluate our options after the first of the year. We'll see if changes have to be made in order to get a better response."
IDOT could decide to change the bid criteria to attract more offers, Vanover said. That could include things like offering more promotional opportunities to a potential vendor or even having the state pick up some of the cost of installing WiFi hardware.
IDOT's original plan was to have a vendor install the hardware at no cost to the state and offer 30 minutes of free Internet access per day to users. The company would make money from ads sold on Web pages that could be accessed by users.
The agency held a mandatory prebid meeting in October, a session that potential bidders are required to attend to go over the bidding requirements and to answer any questions that might be raised. Representatives of several companies attended the meeting, Vanover said, and even more made inquiries to IDOT about providing the service.
But when it came to making a formal offer, only one company responded. And that company had failed to attend the October meeting in, so its offer was rejected.
"Mandatory means mandatory," Vanover said.
IDOT envisions motorists using the service to check e-mail, book hotel rooms and perform other online activities. Several other states, including Iowa, offer WiFi at interstate rest stops.
In Iowa, a company installed the equipment and provided free Internet access. However, it asked to be let out of its contract shortly after the service went online in 2005, and Iowa ended up buying the hardware and hiring another company to operate the system.
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Doug Finke can be reached at 217-788-1527 or doug.finke(at)sj-r.com.
PESCATORE-CNS-SD-12-21-06 1635PST
