Title
Discussion and Possible Approval of Amendment No. 1 to General Services Agreement No. AGR24-46a with Bonfire Engineering & Construction LLC Allowing the Purchase of Materials Associated With the Construction Phase and Approve Low Level Design, including Amending the Schedule of Construction Drawings by Construction Phase
Recommended Action
I move that Council approve Amendment No.1 under General Services Agreement No. AGR24-46a with Bonfire Engineering & Construction LLC amending the contract to allow for the pre-purchase of construction materials and approve Low Level Design, including amending the schedule of construction drawings by construction phase.
County Manager's Recommendation
The County Manager recommends that Council approve the motion as presented.
Body
In November 2024, the County entered into Agreement 24-46a with Bonfire Engineering & Construction LLC (Bonfire) to design and construct a County owned fiber to the premise open access network. Open Access means that the infrastructure is publicly owned and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will be allowed to use the infrastructure to provide the community members service.
Since the contract has been executed, Bonfire has been working diligently on the engineering design. County staff from the County Managers Office, Department of Public Utilities, Public Works, Information Management (IM), and Procurement have also been meeting weekly with the Bonfire team to ensure the project stays on schedule.
In May of 2025, Council received an update from staff on the progress of the design, the completion of the High-Level Design and an updated cost estimate. Council also heard a briefing regarding the bond issuance timeline and an update on the schedule.
The process for approval is as follows; High Level Design (HLD), which includes a preliminary layout of the new fiber and conduit layout throughout the entire County. Staff approved the HLD and this milestone was completed in May 2025. Low-Level Design (LLD) is more detailed design which includes the most current design that will bring the fiber and conduit network from central hubs, through distribution lines and split offs into each street. This detailed design has been vetted by staff, however contractually LLD is approved by Council. LLD is scheduled to come before Council for approval in January 2026.
In October 2025, Council approved the issuance of $40M of revenue bonds. This allows the design and construction to remain on schedule. Construction is anticipated to begin April 2026.
In December of 2025, staff learned of potential materials shortages for all components needed to build the broadband network. These industry shortages are due to the $42 billion federal government Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program and the demand for fiber components due to hyper-scaling of Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects across the United States.
In order to put Los Alamos County in the best possible position to avoid material price hikes and construction delays, this contract amendment (Attachment A) would allow the purchase of materials in advance of construction. These costs can be reimbursed by the pending bond funds which are anticipated to be available in spring 2026. The second part of the amendment is that Bonfire shall prepare and submit audio-video presentation materials for approval of the phase specific or complete LLD by County Council at a public meeting (scheduled for January 2026).
Broadband Manager Jerry Smith will present these items to Council for consideration and action (Attachment D).
Alternatives
Council could choose not to approve this amendment which could lead to the situation where materials may not be readily available which could lead to construction delays and potentially higher costs to the project which may exceed the bond capacity.
Fiscal and Staff Impact/Planned Item
Funds for the advance purchase of materials can be covered out of the County's operating funds, which can be reimbursed by the bond funding, anticipated to be available in February 2026.
Attachments
A - AGR24-26a Amendment 1
B - LLD Cost Estimate Summary & BOM
C - LACBN Construction Type Overview - 2 Maps
D - Broadband Amendment Presentation