Goto Section: 54.638 | 54.640 | Table of Contents
FCC 54.639
Revised as of October 5, 2017
Goto Year:2016 |
2018
§ 54.639 Ineligible expenses.
(a) Equipment or services not directly associated with eligible
services. Expenses associated with equipment or services that are not
necessary to make an eligible service functional, or to manage,
control, or maintain an eligible service or a dedicated health care
broadband network are ineligible for support.
Note to paragraph (a): The following are examples of ineligible
expenses:
1. Costs associated with general computing, software, applications, and
Internet content development are not supported, including the
following:
i. Computers, including servers, and related hardware (e.g., printers,
scanners, laptops), unless used exclusively for network management,
maintenance, or other network operations;
ii. End user wireless devices, such as smartphones and tablets;
iii. Software, unless used for network management, maintenance, or
other network operations;
iv. Software development (excluding development of software that
supports network management, maintenance, and other network
operations);
v. Helpdesk equipment and related software, or services, unless used
exclusively in support of eligible services or equipment;
vi. Web server hosting;
vii. Web site portal development;
viii. Video/audio/web conferencing equipment or services; and
ix. Continuous power source.
2. Costs associated with medical equipment (hardware and software), and
other general health care provider expenses are not supported,
including the following:
i. Clinical or medical equipment;
ii. Telemedicine equipment, applications, and software;
iii. Training for use of telemedicine equipment;
iv. Electronic medical records systems; and
v. Electronic records management and expenses.
(b) Inside wiring/internal connections. Expenses associated with inside
wiring or internal connections are ineligible for support under the
Healthcare Connect Fund.
(c) Administrative expenses. Administrative expenses are not eligible
for support under the Healthcare Connect Fund.
Note to paragraph (c): Ineligible administrative expenses include, but
not limited to, the following expenses:
1. Personnel costs (including salaries and fringe benefits), except for
personnel expenses in a consortium application that directly relate to
designing, engineering, installing, constructing, and managing a
dedicated broadband network. Ineligible costs of this category include,
for example, personnel to perform program management and coordination,
program administration, and marketing;
2. Travel costs, except for travel costs that are reasonable and
necessary for network design or deployment and that are specifically
identified and justified as part of a competitive bid for a
construction project;
3. Legal costs;
4. Training, except for basic training or instruction directly related
to and required for broadband network installation and associated
network operations;
5. Program administration or technical coordination (e.g., preparing
application materials, obtaining letters of agency, preparing request
for proposals, negotiating with vendors, reviewing bids, and working
with the Administrator) that involves anything other than the design,
engineering, operations, installation, or construction of the network;
6. Administration and marketing costs (e.g., administrative costs;
supplies and materials, except as part of network
installation/construction; marketing studies, marketing activities, or
outreach to potential network members; evaluation and feedback
studies);
7. Billing expenses (e.g., expense that vendors may charge for
allocating costs to each health care provider in a network);
8. Helpdesk expenses (e.g., equipment and related software, or
services); and
9. Technical support services that provide more than basic maintenance.
(d) Cost allocation for ineligible sites, services, or equipment—(1)
Ineligible sites. Eligible health care provider sites may share
expenses with ineligible sites, as long as the ineligible sites pay
their fair share of the expenses. An applicant may seek support for
only the portion of a shared eligible expense attributable to eligible
health care provider sites. To receive support, the applicant must
ensure that ineligible sites pay their fair share of the expense. The
fair share is determined as follows:
(i) If the vendor charges a separate and independent price for each
site, an ineligible site must pay the full undiscounted price.
(ii) If there is no separate and independent price for each site, the
applicant must prorate the undiscounted price for the “shared” service,
equipment, or facility between eligible and ineligible sites on a
proportional fully-distributed basis. Applicants must make this cost
allocation using a method that is based on objective criteria and
reasonably reflects the eligible usage of the shared service,
equipment, or facility. The applicant bears the burden of demonstrating
the reasonableness of the allocation method chosen.
(2) Ineligible components of a single service or piece of equipment.
Applicants seeking support for a service or piece of equipment that
includes an ineligible component must explicitly request in their
requests for proposals that vendors include pricing for a comparable
service or piece of equipment that is comprised of only eligible
components. If the selected provider also submits a price for the
eligible component on a stand-alone basis, the support amount is
calculated based on the stand-alone price of the eligible component on
a stand-alone basis. If the vendor does not offer the eligible
component on a stand-alone basis, the full price of the entire service
or piece of equipment must be taken into account, without regard to the
value of the ineligible components, when determining the most
cost-effective bid.
(3) Written description. Applicants must submit a written description
of their allocation method(s) to the Administrator with their funding
requests.
(4) Written agreement. If ineligible entities participate in a network,
the allocation method must be memorialized in writing, such as a formal
agreement among network members, a master services contract, or for
smaller consortia, a letter signed and dated by all (or each)
ineligible entity and the Consortium Leader.
[ 78 FR 13987 , Mar. 1, 2013]
return arrow Back to Top
Goto Section: 54.638 | 54.640
Goto Year: 2016 |
2018
CiteFind - See documents on FCC website that
cite this rule
Want to support this service?
Thanks!
Report errors in
this rule. Since these rules are converted to HTML by machine, it's possible errors have been made. Please
help us improve these rules by clicking the Report FCC Rule Errors link to report an error.
hallikainen.com
Helping make public information public