Higher Education Connectivity Assessment: What to Evaluate Before an RFP

Why Assess Before Selecting Technology?

Technology selection should follow requirements discovery, not lead it.

When an institution starts with a preferred platform or product, the project can become narrowly focused on solving one visible symptom while leaving the underlying problem untouched.

A stronger process starts by asking:

• What problem are we trying to solve?
• Which campus environments are affected?
• Who is experiencing the problem?
• How often does it occur?
• What systems or infrastructure may be contributing?
• What outcome does the institution need?
• What other projects depend on this decision?
• Who will own and support the future environment?

This helps prevent an RFP from becoming a product specification before the campus has clearly defined its actual requirements.

A good assessment also exposes dependencies early. A wireless project may require upgrades to cabling, power, uplinks, or supporting infrastructure. An in-building cellular system may require pathways, cabling, equipment space, IP connectivity, or carrier coordination. A public safety project may require coordination with the Authority Having Jurisdiction. A residence hall project may need to fit a narrow summer construction window.

Those constraints are easier to manage before procurement than after a project has already been designed.

For institutions still establishing the broader strategy, a connected campus planning roadmap can help define the campus-wide priorities that should guide the assessment.

Step 1: Define the Problem the Institution Is Trying to Solve

Start by describing the problem in operational terms rather than technology terms.

Instead of:

We need a new wireless system.

Ask:

What is not working today, and what needs to improve?

Common drivers may include:

• Wi-Fi congestion
• Poor public cellular coverage
• Recurring residence hall complaints
• Aging or unsupported infrastructure
• Emergency responder communications gaps
• New construction or renovation
• Security or segmentation concerns
• Capacity constraints
• Operational complexity
• Lack of monitoring or support coverage
• New teaching, research, innovation, or connected-building requirements

The more specific the problem statement, the easier it becomes to define the scope of the assessment.

A campus trying to improve student connectivity in residence halls has a different set of requirements from one trying to address mobile carrier coverage in a stadium, wireless research needs in a laboratory, or aging infrastructure in academic buildings.

Step 2: Identify the Right Stakeholders

A campus connectivity assessment should include the teams that understand how spaces are used, not only the teams that manage the network.

Depending on the project, stakeholders may include:

• CIO or CTO leadership
• Network and infrastructure teams
• IT security
• Facilities
• Campus operations
• Public safety
• Housing
• Athletics
• Student experience
• Academic and research teams
• Finance
• Procurement
• Construction and project management

Requirements should also reflect the people who actually use the environment, including students, faculty, staff, guests, contractors, event attendees, vendors, researchers, and emergency responders.

Different groups see different parts of the problem.

The network team may know where utilization is high. Housing may know where students complain. Athletics may understand what fails during peak attendance. Facilities may know where pathways, power, or equipment space are limited. Research teams may have specialized connectivity requirements. Public safety may know which areas become critical during an incident.

A useful assessment brings those perspectives together.

Step 3: Inventory the Existing Infrastructure

A credible assessment requires a current view of the infrastructure already in place.

The inventory should include the systems that may influence the project, such as:

• Wired network infrastructure
• Wireless access points
• Firewalls and network edge systems
• Fiber and copper cabling
• Internet circuits and uplinks
• Racks and telecom spaces
• Power dependencies
• Network management systems
• Commercial DAS
• Public Safety DAS
• Private cellular infrastructure
• Other in-building wireless systems

Where relevant, the institution should also document equipment type, manufacturer, age, software or firmware, licensing, support status, warranties, capacity constraints, and operational ownership.

The goal is not simply to count equipment.

It is to understand whether existing infrastructure can support the desired outcome and where dependencies may affect the project.

Step 4: Map the Campus Environments

Infrastructure data should be tied to physical locations.

A campus assessment should identify where connectivity matters and where problems are occurring.

That may include:

• Classrooms
• Lecture halls
• Laboratories
• Libraries
• Administrative buildings
• Residence halls
• Campus apartments
• Student centers
• Dining areas
• Stadiums and arenas
• Practice facilities
• Parking areas
• Outdoor gathering spaces
• Research facilities
• Remote buildings
• Emergency operations areas

Hard-to-cover spaces should be called out separately, including basements, stairwells, tunnels, elevators, parking structures, deep interior rooms, older buildings, and mechanical spaces.

This geographic view helps turn a general complaint such as "coverage is poor" into a specific planning problem tied to users, buildings, applications, and infrastructure.

Step 5: Document the User Experience

Asset inventories tell only part of the story.

A campus should also document what users are actually experiencing.

Useful inputs may include:

• Help desk tickets
• Wireless performance data
• Cellular complaints
• Coverage testing
• Utilization
• Latency
• Reliability
• Peak-demand performance
• Stakeholder interviews
• Building-specific complaints
• Event-day issues

Support tickets can be valuable, but they should not be the only source.

Some users stop reporting recurring problems because they assume nothing will change. Other issues only appear under specific conditions, such as move-in, exams, major events, evening residence hall use, or research workloads.

The assessment should combine technical measurements with stakeholder experience so the institution understands both what the systems are reporting and what users are experiencing.

A strong campus assessment defines what is happening, where it is happening, who is affected, and what must be addressed before procurement begins.

Step 6: Separate Wi-Fi, Cellular, and Public Safety Requirements

One of the most important parts of a campus connectivity assessment is separating problems that may look similar to users but involve different networks.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi assessment should focus on institutional and guest data access, including coverage, capacity, device density, performance, roaming, supporting infrastructure, authentication, and onboarding.

Public Cellular

Commercial cellular assessment should focus on mobile carrier service for students, faculty, staff, visitors, contractors, and event attendees.

Issues may include weak indoor service, dead zones, carrier-specific problems, dropped calls, unreliable mobile data, or poor coverage in high-traffic spaces.

Strong Wi-Fi does not necessarily mean users have reliable public cellular service.

Public Safety Communications

Emergency responder radio coverage is a separate requirement.

A campus should pay particular attention to basements, stairwells, tunnels, elevators, parking structures, mechanical areas, remote buildings, and emergency operations areas.

Commercial cellular and Wi-Fi performance do not establish whether emergency responder communications meet local requirements.

Where emergency responder coverage is part of the assessment, Public Safety DAS should be evaluated as its own communications requirement.

Once the institution has identified which wireless requirement it is trying to solve, Campus Wireless Strategy: Wi-Fi, In-Building Cellular and Private Cellular can help evaluate the available architectures.

Step 7: Identify Infrastructure and Lifecycle Constraints

Connectivity problems are often influenced by infrastructure that sits behind the visible network.

A Wi-Fi upgrade may underperform if cabling, power, uplinks, or other access infrastructure cannot support the planned design.

An in-building cellular project may require new cabling, pathways, power, equipment space, or building modifications. Depending on the architecture, DAS may use fiber, coaxial cabling, or a combination of both. Small-cell systems may use Ethernet, fiber, or both.

Private cellular may introduce new transport, segmentation, management, and operational requirements.

The assessment should identify:

• End-of-life or unsupported equipment
• Cabling limitations
• Capacity constraints
• Fiber availability where relevant
• Power requirements
• Pathways
• Equipment-space constraints
• Licensing dependencies
• Support gaps
• Monitoring limitations

When those findings point to broader lifecycle or infrastructure issues, they should feed into a higher education network modernization plan rather than being buried inside an individual wireless project.

Step 8: Identify Project Dependencies

Most campus connectivity projects do not exist in isolation.

A useful assessment should identify what has to happen before, during, or alongside the proposed project.

Examples may include:

• Infrastructure upgrades before a Wi-Fi refresh
• New cabling or pathways before wireless infrastructure can be installed
• Telecom room upgrades before adding equipment
• Power upgrades for new systems
• AHJ coordination before a public safety project moves forward
• Carrier coordination before commercial cellular service is activated
• Security or segmentation changes before new devices are introduced
• Construction sequencing around building renovations

Academic and operational schedules also create dependencies.

A technically ideal project timeline may conflict with move-in, finals, graduation, research schedules, residence hall occupancy, athletic events, summer programs, or planned construction.

These constraints should be part of the assessment, not discovered after the contract is signed.

Step 9: Define What Success Looks Like

An RFP is easier to write when the institution has already defined what a successful outcome should look like.

Success criteria may include:

• Reliable coverage in defined areas
• Improved capacity during peak use
• Better user experience
• Reduced support incidents
• Improved resiliency
• Better lifecycle supportability
• Reduced operational complexity
• Defined security and segmentation requirements
• Clear monitoring and ownership
• Compatibility with future campus plans

Where practical, requirements should be measurable.

Instead of asking for "better coverage," define the buildings, spaces, user groups, and performance conditions that matter.

Instead of asking for "a modern network," define the management, lifecycle, support, capacity, and resiliency expectations the future environment should meet.

Step 10: Decide What Needs to Be Solved Now and What Can Be Phased

Not every finding needs to become part of the same project.

A campus assessment may identify dozens of gaps, but they will not all carry the same risk or urgency.

Prioritization should consider:

• Safety
• User impact
• Academic impact
• Research impact
• Operational impact
• Security
• Lifecycle risk
• Infrastructure dependencies
• Construction timing
• Available funding
• Internal ownership

Some issues may require immediate action.

Others may belong in a later phase or be tied to a future capital project.

The assessment should produce a prioritized set of requirements rather than a list of every problem found.

When Is a Campus Ready to Issue an RFP?

A college or university is better prepared to issue an RFP when it can clearly describe the problem, the environment, the expected outcome, and the major constraints.

Before procurement begins, the institution should be able to answer:

• What problem are we solving?
• Which buildings or campus areas are in scope?
• Who are the affected users?
• What infrastructure is already in place?
• Where are the known Wi-Fi, cellular, or public safety coverage gaps?
• Which systems are approaching end of life?
• What infrastructure can be reused?
• Which projects depend on other upgrades?
• What security or segmentation requirements apply?
• What operational and support model is expected?
• What schedule constraints exist?
• Who will own the future environment?
• How will success be measured?

If those answers are not clear, the RFP may be premature.

The goal is not to eliminate every unknown. It is to ensure vendors are responding to a defined campus requirement rather than interpreting the problem differently.

What Should the Assessment Deliver?

A useful campus connectivity assessment should produce:

• A current-state infrastructure inventory
• Campus environment and coverage findings
• Documented user pain points
• Lifecycle risks
• Wi-Fi, cellular, and public safety findings
• Infrastructure dependencies
• Security and segmentation requirements
• Research or specialized application requirements
• Operational constraints
• Priority issues
• Success criteria
• Recommended next-phase work
• RFP requirements, if procurement is the next step

The assessment should make it easier for campus leadership to decide what needs to happen next and what information still needs to be gathered.