Fiber RFP Template: 30 Questions Vendors Must Answer with Route Photos and Distances

If you want real redundancy, you need proof you can hold in your hand. Maps are marketing. Photos, distances, and test files are evidence. Use the template below to force apples-to-apples answers from every fiber vendor so you can compare routes, MTTR, and total risk without guesswork.

Executive snapshot

Ask for photos and distances, not just a line on a map. The template below groups 30 vendor questions and builds a copyable RFP draft. A quick calculator shows when fixing false diversity pays for itself.

Proof

Entrance photos, first handholes, crossings

Distance

Meters and kilometers between key points

Acceptance

OTDR, light levels, failover tests

1️⃣ Route proof deliverables vendors must attach

Item	What to attach	Purpose
Curb entrances	Street-level photos with GPS and time stamp	Verify different entrances on different block faces
First handholes	Photos of lids and interiors plus IDs	Confirm separation at the first vault
Crossings	Photo set for each bridge, rail, river, or highway	Catch common choke points
Building handoff	MMR or closet photos and room numbers	Remove single-room points of failure
Distances	Table of meters between entrance, vault, crossing, and MMR	Quantify overlap and shared segments

If any segment uses a third party, require the same photos and distances for that segment.

2️⃣ The RFP questions

Check the items you want in your draft, then build and copy at the bottom. All questions expect photo evidence and distances where noted.

A) Route and diversity

Provide street-level photos of both curb entrances with GPS tags. Confirm different block faces. List first handhole or vault IDs for each path and attach photos. State the distance in meters from each entrance to its first handhole. Include a distance table. List every bridge, rail, river, and highway crossing per path with coordinates and photos. Declare any shared segment between the two paths and give exact length and location.

B) Physical plant and construction

Identify conduit ownership for each segment: your plant or third party. Provide plan and profile sheets for new construction with footage by street. List all splices and closures with tray IDs and slack loop footage. Describe the lateral route inside our building to the demarc. Include room numbers and riser path. List required permits, make-ready, and estimated lead times.

C) Cloud on ramps and interconnection

Name the carrier hotels or MMRs where you interconnect to AWS, Azure, and GCP. Give the distance in kilometers from our site to each on ramp you propose. Provide MMR rack locations and cross-connect types at each on ramp. Confirm whether this product hairpins to a distant on ramp. State the added latency in milliseconds. Offer two on ramp options and declare whether their paths are diverse from each other.

D) SLA, MTTR, and maintenance

State MTTR targets for metro and regional cuts and provide your last 12 months actuals. List maintenance windows and typical advance notice. Provide the SLA credit schedule and confirm credits apply automatically. Share change freeze periods for holidays and major local events. Provide escalation contacts and field dispatch process for joint meets.

E) Testing and turn up

Attach OTDR traces per span with test wavelengths and launch/receive fiber details. Provide receive and transmit light levels at our demarc and your test points. Share OSNR or equivalent optical quality metrics at turn up. Document a failover test that isolates each entrance and proves path diversity. Deliver as-built maps in editable format with distances labeled.

F) Commercial and change

Quote price per route kilometer for special construction and the monthly service rate. Show upgrade steps and lead times from 1G to 10G to 100G to 400G. Declare any dependency on another carrier and provide back-to-back SLA details. Include contract language that defines route diversity by entrances, first handholes, and crossings. List early termination, move, and address change costs.

3️⃣ Build your RFP text

The draft includes a short preamble plus the checked questions. You can still edit inside the box.

Tip: paste into your RFQ email or procurement portal. Keep numbering so vendors reply in line.

4️⃣ Distance table template vendors must fill

Path	Segment	From	To	Distance (m)	Notes
Primary	Entrance to first handhole	123 Main St curb	HH-17A	—	Photo attached
Primary	First handhole to bridge crossing	HH-17A	Bridge X	—	Photo attached
Backup	Entrance to first handhole	456 Oak Ave curb	HH-9C	—	Photo attached
Backup	Shared segment disclosure	—	—	—	Give exact meters and location

5️⃣ Vendor response matrix

Item	Vendor A	Vendor B	Vendor C
Different curb entrances	Yes / No	Yes / No	Yes / No
Different first handholes	Yes / No	Yes / No	Yes / No
No common crossings	Yes / No	Yes / No	Yes / No
Photo set complete	Yes / No	Yes / No	Yes / No
OTDR and light levels	Included	Included	Included
Automatic SLA credits	Yes / No	Yes / No	Yes / No

6️⃣ Cost of false diversity

Estimate yearly impact when both circuits fail together. Compare to the cost of a true second entrance or private path.

Outage impact quick math

Sites affected

Hours down per event

Events per year

Cost per hour per site ($)

Diversity fix one time ($)

Diversity fix monthly ($)

Annual outage impact

Annualized fix cost

Simple decision view

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Annualized fix assumes a simple 3 year amortization plus monthly cost.

7️⃣ Acceptance checklist

Turn up items to file

Entrance and first handhole photos
Crossing list with coordinates
OTDR traces and light levels
As-built route with distances

Operational items to confirm

Escalation contacts tested
Maintenance windows documented
Failover test completed
SLA credit automation verified

This RFP format turns vague promises into verifiable facts. Ask for photos, distances, and test files up front, compare vendors with the response matrix, and use the calculator to price the risk of shared routes. If a provider cannot supply evidence for an item, keep it out of the contract or choose a route you can prove.