Sec.  54.504   Requests for services.

   (a) Competitive bid requirements. Except as provided in  Sec. 54.511(c), an
   eligible school, library, or consortium that includes an eligible school or
   library shall seek competitive bids, pursuant to the requirements
   established in this subpart, for all services eligible for support under
    Sec.  Sec. 54.502 and 54.503. These competitive bid requirements apply in addition to
   state and local competitive bid requirements and are not intended to preempt
   such state or local requirements.

   (b) Posting of FCC Form 470. (1) An eligible school, library, or consortium
   that includes an eligible school or library seeking to receive discounts for
   eligible services under this subpart, shall submit a completed FCC Form 470
   to the Administrator. FCC Form 470 shall include, at a minimum, the
   following information, to the extent applicable with respect to the services
   requested:

   (i) The computer equipment currently available or budgeted for purchase for
   the current, next, or other future academic years, as well as whether the
   computers have modems and, if so, what speed modems;

   (ii) The internal connections, if any, that the school or library has in
   place or has budgeted to install in the current, next, or future academic
   years, or any specific plans for an organized voluntary effort to connect
   the classrooms;

   (iii) The computer software necessary to communicate with other computers
   over an internal network and over the public telecommunications network
   currently available or budgeted for purchase for the current, next, or
   future academic years;

   (iv) The experience of, and training received by, the relevant staff in the
   use of the equipment to be connected to the telecommunications network and
   training programs for which funds are committed for the current, next, or
   future academic years;

   (v) Existing or budgeted maintenance contracts to maintain computers; and

   (vi) The capacity of the school's or library's electrical system in terms of
   how many computers can be operated simultaneously without creating a fire
   hazard.

   (2) FCC Form 470 shall be signed by the person authorized to order
   telecommunications and other supported services for the eligible school,
   library, or consortium and shall include that person's certification under
   oath that:

   (i) The schools meet the statutory definition of elementary and secondary
   schools found under section 254(h) of the Act, as amended in the No Child
   Left Behind Act of 2001, 20 U.S.C. 7801(18) and (38), do not operate as
   for-profit businesses, and do not have endowments exceeding $50 million;

   (ii) The libraries or library consortia eligible for assistance from a State
   library administrative agency under the Library Services and Technology Act
   of 1996 do not operate as for-profit businesses and whose budgets are
   completely separate from any school (including, but not limited to,
   elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities).

   (iii) All of the individual schools, libraries, and library consortia
   receiving services are covered by:

   (A) Individual technology plans for using the services requested in the
   application; and/or

   (B) Higher-level technology plans for using the services requested in the
   application; or

   (C) No technology plan needed because application requests basic local
   and/or long distance service and/or voicemail only.

   (iv) The technology plan(s) has/have been approved by a state or other
   authorized body; the technology plan(s) will be approved by a state or other
   authorized body; or no technology plan needed because applicant is applying
   for basic local, cellular, PCS, and/or long distance telephone service
   and/or voicemail only.

   (v) The services the applicant purchases at discounts will be used solely
   for educational purposes and will not be sold, resold, or transferred in
   consideration for money or any other thing of value.

   (vi) Support under this support mechanism is conditional upon the school(s)
   and library(ies) securing access to all of the resources, including
   computers, training, software, maintenance, internal connections, and
   electrical connections necessary to use the services purchased effectively.

   (vii) All bids submitted will be carefully considered and the bid selected
   will be for the most cost-effective service or equipment offering, with
   price being the primary factor, and will be the most cost-effective means of
   meeting educational needs and technology plan goals.

   (3) The Administrator shall post each FCC Form 470 that it receives from an
   eligible school, library, or consortium that includes an eligible school or
   library on its website designated for this purpose.

   (4) After posting on the Administrator's website an eligible school's,
   library's, or consortium's FCC Form 470, the Administrator shall send
   confirmation of the posting to the entity requesting service. That entity
   shall then wait at least four weeks from the date on which its description
   of services is posted on the Administrator's website before making
   commitments with the selected providers of services. The confirmation from
   the Administrator shall include the date after which the requestor may sign
   a contract with its chosen provider(s).

   (c) Filing of FCC Form 471. An eligible school, library, or consortium that
   includes an eligible school or library seeking to receive discounts for
   eligible services under this subpart, shall, upon signing a contract for
   eligible services, submit a completed FCC Form 471 to the Administrator. A
   commitment of support is contingent upon the filing of FCC Form 471.

   (1) FCC Form 471 shall be signed by the person authorized to order
   telecommunications and other supported services for the eligible school,
   library, or consortium and shall include that person's certification under
   oath that:

   (i) The schools meet the statutory definition of elementary and secondary
   schools found under section 254(h) of the Act, as amended in the No Child
   Left Behind Act of 2001, 20 U.S.C. 7801(18) and (38), do not operate as
   for-profit businesses, and do not have endowments exceeding $50 million.

   (ii) The libraries or library consortia eligible for assistance from a State
   library administrative agency under the Library Services and Technology Act
   of 1996 do not operate as for-profit businesses and whose budgets are
   completely separate from any school (including, but not limited to,
   elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities).

   (iii) The entities listed on the FCC Form 471 application have secured
   access to all of the resources, including computers, training, software,
   maintenance, internal connections, and electrical connections, necessary to
   make effective use of the services purchased, as well as to pay the
   discounted charges for eligible services from funds to which access has been
   secured in the current funding year. The billed entity will pay the
   non-discount portion of the cost of the goods and services to the service
   provider(s).

   (iv) All of the schools and libraries listed on the FCC Form 471 application
   are covered by:

   (A) An individual technology plan for using the services requested in the
   application; and/or

   (B) Higher-level technology plan(s) for using the services requested in the
   FCC Form 471 application; or

   (C) No technology plan needed; applying for basic local and long distance
   telephone service only.

   (v) Status of technology plan(s) has/have been approved; will be approved by
   a state or other authorized body; or no technology plan is needed because
   applicant is applying for basic local, cellular, PCS, and/or long distance
   telephone service and/or voicemail only.

   (vi) The entities listed on the FCC Form 471 application have complied with
   all applicable state and local laws regarding procurement of services for
   which support is being sought.

   (vii) The services the applicant purchases at discounts will be used solely
   for educational purposes and will not be sold, resold, or transferred in
   consideration for money or any other thing of value.

   (viii) The entities listed in the application have complied with all program
   rules and acknowledge that failure to do so may result in denial of discount
   funding and/or recovery of funding.

   (ix) The applicant understands that the discount level used for shared
   services is conditional, for future years, upon ensuring that the most
   disadvantaged schools and libraries that are treated as sharing in the
   service, receive an appropriate share of benefits from those services.

   (x) The applicant recognizes that it may be audited pursuant to its
   application, that it will retain for five years any and all worksheets and
   other records relied upon to fill out its application, and that, if audited,
   it will make such records available to the Administrator.

   (xi) All bids submitted were carefully considered and the most
   cost-effective bid for services or equipment was selected, with price being
   the primary factor considered, and is the most cost-effective means of
   meeting educational needs and technology plan goals.

   (2) [Reserved]

   (d) Mixed eligibility requests. If 30 percent or more of a request for
   discounts made in an FCC Form 471 is for ineligible services, the request
   shall be denied in its entirety.

   (e) Rate disputes. Schools, libraries, and consortia including those
   entities, and service providers may have recourse to the Commission,
   regarding interstate rates, and to state commissions, regarding intrastate
   rates, if they reasonably believe that the lowest corresponding price is
   unfairly high or low.

   (1) Schools, libraries, and consortia including those entities may request
   lower rates if the rate offered by the carrier does not represent the lowest
   corresponding price.

   (2) Service providers may request higher rates if they can show that the
   lowest corresponding price is not compensatory, because the relevant school,
   library, or consortium including those entities is not similarly situated to
   and subscribing to a similar set of services to the customer paying the
   lowest corresponding price.

   (f) Service substitution. (1) The Administrator shall grant a request by an
   applicant to substitute a service or product for one identified on its FCC
   Form 471 where:

   (i) The service or product has the same functionality;

   (ii) The substitution does not violate any contract provisions or state or
   local procurement laws;

   (iii) The substitution does not result in an increase in the percentage of
   ineligible services or functions; and

   (iv) The applicant certifies that the requested change is within the scope
   of the controlling FCC Form 470, including any associated Requests for
   Proposal, for the original services.

   (2) In the event that a service substitution results in a change in the
   pre-discount price for the supported service, support shall be based on the
   lower of either the pre-discount price of the service for which support was
   originally requested or the pre-discount price of the new, substituted
   service.

   (3) For purposes of this rule, the broad categories of eligible services
   (telecommunications service, Internet access, and internal connections) are
   not deemed to have the same functionality with one another.

   (g) Mixed eligibility services. A request for discounts for a product or
   service that includes both eligible and ineligible components must allocate
   the cost of the contract to eligible and ineligible components.

   (1) Ineligible components. If a product or service contains ineligible
   components, costs must be allocated to the extent that a clear delineation
   can be made between the eligible and ineligible components. The delineation
   must have a tangible basis, and the price for the eligible portion must be
   the most cost-effective means of receiving the eligible service.

   (2) Ancillary ineligible components. If a product or service contains
   ineligible components that are ancillary to the eligible components, and the
   product or service is the most cost-effective means of receiving the
   eligible component functionality, without regard to the value of the
   ineligible component, costs need not be allocated between the eligible and
   ineligible components. Discounts shall be provided on the full cost of the
   product or service. An ineligible component is “ancillary” if a price for
   the ineligible component cannot be determined separately and independently
   from the price of the eligible components, and the specific package remains
   the most cost-effective means of receiving the eligible services, without
   regard to the value of the ineligible functionality.

   (3) The Administrator shall utilize the cost allocation requirements of this
   subparagraph in evaluating mixed eligibility requests under  Sec. 54.504(d)(1).

   (h) Filing of FCC Form 473. All service providers eligible to provide
   telecommunications and other supported services under this subpart shall
   submit annually a completed FCC Form 473 to the Administrator. FCC Form 473
   shall be signed by an authorized person and shall include that person's
   certification under oath that:

   (1) The prices in any offer that this service provider makes pursuant to the
   schools and libraries universal service support program have been arrived at
   independently, without, for the purpose of restricting competition, any
   consultation, communication, or agreement with any other offeror or
   competitor relating to those prices, the intention to submit an offer, or
   the methods or factors used to calculate the prices offered;

   (2) The prices in any offer that this service provider makes pursuant to the
   schools and libraries universal service support program will not be
   knowingly disclosed by this service provider, directly or indirectly, to any
   other offeror or competitor before bid opening (in the case of a sealed bid
   solicitation) or contract award (in the case of a negotiated solicitation)
   unless otherwise required by law; and

   (3) No attempt will be made by this service provider to induce any other
   concern to submit or not to submit an offer for the purpose of restricting
   competition.

   [ 62 FR 32948 , June 17, 1997, as amended at  62 FR 41304 , Aug. 1, 1997;  63 FR 2129 , Jan. 13, 1998;  63 FR 70572 , Dec. 21, 1998;  68 FR 36942 , June 20, 2003;
    69 FR 6190 , Feb. 10, 2004,  69 FR 55109 , Sept. 13, 2004;  69 FR 59145 , Oct. 4,
   2004]