Kimo Crossman over at Webnetic tipped us to the release of the new, final request for proposals from The City on the citywide wireless initiative. Strangely, just last week the Local Agency Formation Committee (LAFCo) was asking to study the issue more before the Department of Telecommunications Infrastructure and Services (DTIS) issued the RFP. In other words, the mayor's office seems to be turning a deaf ear to recent public hearings on citywide Wifi, though they'll probably hold another splashy press conference or three.

As it stands, bids are now due at 5pm on February 21st. The City will basically grant the non-exclusive use of municipal property -- such as light poles and buildings -- as long as they compensate The City. They do seem to be allowing capture portals, and require that 'Premium Services' allow for at least 3mbps symmetric bandwidth, and 1mbps symmetric bandwidth for 'portable' connectivity where the user is travelling at a minimum of 30 miles an hour through The City. There's a nod to network neutrality, and all services shall be open to other ISPs.

The section on privacy basically asks for bidders to submit their privacy policies, meaning that right now there are now mandatory minimum expectations for privacy protections besides compliance "with all applicable federal and state laws." The City intends to weigh the proposals with a point system -- 20 points for "Firm Qualifications," 60 points for "Degree of Compliance With City's Specifications," and then the top three scorers will be granted an "Oral Interview" worth another twenty points.

After awarding a contract, the DTIS will enter into negotiations, but reserve the right to terminate the negotiations and award the contract to the next highest scorer. The DTIS also reserves the right to waive any of the provisions in the RFP during negotiations. Copies of any proposals will be made public immediately after the contract is awarded, though the public versions will be redacted of 'trade secrets.' This means that only the DTIS will see the responses before awarding the contract, and there are no provisions for any part of the contract negotiations to be public.

What does this mean to you? Well, it means you'll be getting citywide wifi no earlier than, oh, 2007; it may not be free; and whomever does it will get to set privacy policy pretty much however they see fit. The RFP process and negotiation process is not open to public discussion, so if you don't like the contract The City ends up signing, tough s**t. If Google really was worried that the process was beginning to grind to a halt in City Hall, they really have nothing to worry about -- looks like smooth sailing for whomever makes nice with GavvyGav and Chris Vein.

Update: Kimo has put up his own post, as has Sasha at Left in SF.