Idaho is shopping for a “bridge contractor” to run the troubled Idaho Education Network high school broadband service for 2015-16, Idaho EdNews reporter Kevin Richert reports. The state sent out a 31-page “invitation to bid” for the one-year contract yesterday, Richert writes; his full report is online here.

The state’s $60 million contract for the IEN was voided by a judge in November, leaving the service linking Idaho high schools in limbo, along with millions in federal “e-rate” funds that were supposed to pay for three-quarters of the service. The feds stopped paying in 2013 after legal questions arose about the contract, which the state awarded to Qwest and Education Networks of America. IEN spokeswoman Camille Wells offered few details about the bridge contract, telling Richert the state Department of Administration will have more to say at its budget hearing before the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee tomorrow.