OTHELLO — Installation of additional fiber optic cables south of Othello is projected to start early next year. A bid for the project should be awarded before the end of this month or in early January. Adams County Engineer Scott Yaeger said the timing of the project depends on selecting a contractor, a process that has hit a roadblock.

“Until a contract and contract bond are executed we will not know an estimated construction timeline,” Yeager wrote in response to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald.

Adams County received a $10.3 million Washington Department of Commerce grant in 2022 to expand fiber connectivity. The area south of Othello is the second and final phase of that project. The county is installing the fiber; providing internet service to homes and businesses will be the work of private companies. The new fiber backbone will provide access south and southwest of the Othello city limits, an area around the Othello Golf Club along West Bench Road and surrounding subdivisions. Some areas originally in the county project got fiber access from the expansion of private companies in the meantime.

Once construction starts, Adams County Commissioner Dan Blankenship said it’s estimated to be completed by late summer.

Bids for a contractor were opened earlier this month, but Blankenship said there’s a hitch.

The low bidder committed some errors in the bid, Blankenship said, and has since notified county officials that the company couldn’t fulfill the contract at the submitted price. The rules of construction bids require that the contract be awarded to the low bidder anyway, Blankenship said. If the company notifies county officials that it can’t fulfill the contract at that price, county officials can move on to the next-lowest bidder.

The state funding comes from money allocated by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the stipulations was that the money must be spent by the end of 2026, and Blankenship said that’s why county officials decided against a second round of bids.

“Right now, we think the risks outweigh the rewards of rebidding it,” he said.

County officials think crews can get started as soon as a bid is awarded, Yaeger said.

“We think work can be done throughout the winter,” he said.

The county was required to use some of its own money as a match for the state funding. That money will come out of a fund allocated to economic development, Blankenship said.

“We have the money,” he said. “We have the cash in that fund to do it.”

County officials had hoped they wouldn’t have to pay quite as much for it, he said, and for a while it looked like the project might not cost as much as originally anticipated. County officials do still have some options to reduce costs, he said, and there may be additional state funding left over from projects in other areas.

“We are exploring other avenues,” he said.