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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - A spokesperson for Huntsville Utilities says a licensing issue with Bear Communications voided the contractor's agreement to build the utility's fiber network, which will be used by Google Fiber. The project has been re-bid, and the utility company is currently considering three options.

Tuesday marked the deadline for bids to complete the project. Bear Communications submitted a bid to resume their work. They'll compete against Erwin Cable Construction and BlueStream.

Huntsville Utilities Spokesperson Joe Gehrdes said the bid consideration process should hopefully resolve in the next two weeks, though he said it's unlikely to be faster than one week.

The State of Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors issued a cease a desist for Bear Communications in mid-December because of a licensing issue. Joe Gehrdes of Huntsville Utilities tells us Bear Communications had a contracting license based out of the Nashville Google Fiber project, and assumed due to state reciprocity laws, they could also operate in Alabama.

“We all just missed it, and made assumptions and never make assumptions," said Gehrdes.

It turns out, for that law to apply, Bear Communications had to be working in Tennessee for three years.

“Bear had only held their TN license for 2 years and nobody caught it until the subcontractor began applying for their license locally," said Gehrdes.

Bear Communications has now acquired their proper Alabama license.

In the meantime, Gehrdes said Huntsville Utilities took on subcontractors as temporary employees to keep the work going on the network. He added that they hope this will not alter the timetable for construction of the fiber network, though he noted there is language built into the agreement with Google Fiber that would allow for extensions.

“We have taken some steps to temporarily employ some of those subcontractors so that we can continue building the fiber network," said Gehrdes.

Both Google and Huntsville Utilities are comfortable with where the project stands in terms of its timeline, according to Gehrdes.

In the future, Gehrdes said Huntsville Utilities will ask contractors to show proof of their licensing. Currently, contractors are allowed to bid without an in-state license, with a running clock on them actually obtaining one.

As for the cost of the project, Gehrdes said Huntsville Utilities is still evaluating how it might change. He notes the amount of line miles needed has grown, which affects the scope of work.

But there is also the matter of how much Bear Communications will be paid for the work performed prior to the cease and desist, which voided their previous contract. Gehrdes said there's a legal process to determine that amount, which he cannot comment on.

Gehrdes believes the new contract will be settled in a matter of weeks, and with a blessing from Mother Nature, the overall project should still hit all of its benchmarks on time.

“We’ll have to make up a little bit of ground but the plan calls for a contractor to come in and really ramp up with quite a lot of crews," he said.

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