Goto Section: 54.503 | 54.505 | Table of Contents
FCC 54.504
Revised as of October 5, 2017
Goto Year:2016 |
2018
§ 54.504 Requests for services.
(a) Filing of the 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
entering into a signed contract or other legally binding agreement for
eligible services, submit a completed FCC Form 471 to the
Administrator.
(1) The FCC Form 471 shall be signed by the person authorized to order
eligible 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 school” or
“secondary school” as defined in § 54.500 of this subpart, 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.
The entities listed on the FCC Form 471 will pay the discounted charges
for eligible services from funds to which access has been secured in
the current funding year or, for entities that will make installment
payments, they will ensure that they are able to make all required
installment payments. The billed entity will pay the non-discount
portion of the cost of the goods and services to the service
provider(s).
(iv) 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.
(v) The services the school, library, or consortium purchases at
discounts will be used primarily for educational purposes and will not
be sold, resold, or transferred in consideration for money or any other
thing of value, except as allowed by § 54.513.
(vi) 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.
(vii) 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.
(viii) The applicant recognizes that it may be audited pursuant to its
application, that it will retain for ten 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.
(ix) Except as exempted by § 54.503(e), all bids submitted to a school,
library, or consortium seeking eligible services were carefully
considered and the most cost-effective bid was selected in accordance
with § 54.503 of this subpart, with price being the primary factor
considered, and it is the most cost-effective means of meeting
educational needs and technology goals.
(2) All pricing and technology infrastructure information submitted as
part of an FCC Form 471 shall be treated as public and non-confidential
by the Administrator unless the applicant specifies a statute, rule, or
other restriction, such as a court order or an existing contract
limitation barring public release of the information.
(i) Contracts and other agreements executed after adoption of this rule
may not prohibit disclosure of pricing or technology infrastructure
information.
(ii) The exemption for existing contract limitations shall not apply to
voluntary extensions or renewals of existing contracts.
(b) 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.
(c) 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.
(d) 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 two categories of eligible services
are not deemed to have the same functionality as one another.
(e) 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 paragraph in evaluating mixed eligibility requests under paragraph
(e)(1) of this section.
(f) 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.
The 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.
(4) The service provider listed on the FCC Form 473 certifies that the
invoices that are submitted by this Service Provider to the Billed
Entity for reimbursement pursuant to Billed Entity Applicant
Reimbursement Forms (FCC Form 472) are accurate and represent payments
from the Billed Entity to the Service Provider for equipment and
services provided pursuant to E-rate program rules.
(5) The service provider listed on the FCC Form 473 certifies that the
bills or invoices issued by this service provider to the billed entity
are for equipment and services eligible for universal service support
by the Administrator, and exclude any charges previously invoiced to
the Administrator by the service provider.
[ 79 FR 49199 , Aug. 19, 2014, as amended at 79 FR 68634 , Nov. 18, 2014;
80 FR 5989 , Feb. 4, 2015]
Effective Date Notes: At 79 FR 49199 , Aug. 19, 2014, § 54.504 was
revised. However, paragraphs (f)(4) and (f)(5) will become effective
July 1, 2016.
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Goto Section: 54.503 | 54.505
Goto Year: 2016 |
2018
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