[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 47, Volume 3] [Revised as of October 1, 2003] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 47CFR54.504] [Page 139-141] TITLE 47--TELECOMMUNICATION CHAPTER I--FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) PART 54_UNIVERSAL SERVICE--Table of Contents Subpart E_Universal Service Support for Low-Income Consumers 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 [[Page 140]] 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 school or library is an eligible entity under Sec. Sec. 254(h)(4) and 254(h)(5) of the Act and the rules adopted under this subpart; (ii) The services requested will be used solely for educational purposes; (iii) The services will not be sold, resold, or transferred in consideration for money or any other thing of value; (iv) If the services are being purchased as part of an aggregated purchase with other entities, the request identifies all co-purchasers and the services or portion of the services being purchased by the school or library; (v) All of the necessary funding in the current funding year has been budgeted and approved to pay for the ``non-discount'' portion of requested connections and services as well as any necessary hardware or software, and to undertake the necessary staff training required to use the services effectively; (vi) The school, library, or consortium including those entities has complied with all applicable state and local procurement processes; and (vii) The school, library, or consortium including those entities has a technology plan that has been certified by its state, the Administrator, or an independent entity approved by the Commission. (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. (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 [[Page 141]] entities is not similarly situated to and subscribing to a similar set of services to the customer paying the lowest corresponding price. [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]