§  54.504   Requests for services.

   (a) Competitive bid requirements . Except as provided in § 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 § § 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 the
   applicant is applying for voice mail, interconnected voice over
   Internet protocol (VoIP), or basic local, cellular, PCS, or long
   distance telephone service 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
   § 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;  75 FR 17589 , Apr. 7, 2010]