from the Carolina Newswire:

The MCNC, an independent non-profit organization that employs advanced networking technologies and systems to continuously improve learning and collaboration throughout North Carolina's K-20 education community, today announced the organization is accepting proposals for work related to its recent award of $28.2 million for the organization’s Broadband Recovery Project funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

Request for Proposals (RFP) related to the engineering, design, and environmental work for the project opened on Monday and will continue until March 15. Additional RFPs will be made available soon. The overall project has the potential to create more than 230 new jobs in North Carolina.

The MCNC award is a key part of a coordinated strategy developed by the Office of the Governor, the N.C. Office of Economic Recovery & Investment and eNC, the state’s rural broadband authority, to improve broadband access for businesses and residents in underserved areas.

In the west, new fiber construction will occur in Davie, Alexander, Catawba, Iredell, Burke, McDowell, Buncombe, Haywood, Jackson, Transylvania, Henderson, Polk, Cleveland, Rutherford, and Lincoln counties.