Agenda For February 11, 2004
Service Provider Call
A. |
FY2004 FORM 471 WINDOW CLOSED
ON FEBRUARY 4, 2004 AT 11:59 p.m. |
B. |
FUNDING COMMITMENTS
A reminder that service providers can view funding commitments online.
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C. |
YSLETA REFILES |
| D. |
ETP |
E. |
SERVICE PROVIDER WEBEX TRAINING
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F. |
FCC THIRD REPORT AND ORDER |
G. |
INVOICING ISSUES |
H. |
ELIGIBLE SERVICES ONLINE INTERNAL CONNECTIONS
MATRIX |
I. |
GENERAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RECEIVED BY
E-MAIL |
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Q. |
We have recently seen several schools and school districts issue
E-Rate RFP’s that require Service Providers to ‘pre-qualify’
before they are able to bid on the work requested on the Form 470.
This means that the district is evaluating Service Providers on
other basis besides price. Does the SLD believe this to be in compliance
with FCC orders regarding evaluation of proposals with price being
the most heavily weighted? Also, should this requirement be posted
in the Form 470 (block 11??)?
Many Schools and School Districts have been posting Form 470’s
and prior to issuing RFP’s to the Service Providers have simply
given the interested Service Providers a list of eligible services
that the School or District may be interested in. Service Providers
are asked to complete the unit pricing form and then the School
or District’s are comparing the unit pricing and making their
decision as to their selection of the Service Provider from this
pricing. After which they then give the Scope of Work to that selected
Service Provider and ask for a quote, which they then accept and
enter into a contract, then submit a Form 471. This seems not to
be the intent of FCC, in that unit pricing of all potential eligible
products and services without a Scope of Work simply provides the
School or District with a Service Providers ‘catalog of products
and services’, which may or may not be incidental to the actual
work required. Additionally, evaluating pricing from a unit price
list does not allow the applicant to compare Service Providers proposals
based on the most ‘cost-effective’ bid. It unnecessarily
restricts competition. Is this type of “bidding comparison”
allowed under FCC/SLD rules? John Price, Spectrum Communications |
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| Q. |
What is the escalation path for finding out status on invoices that
are very old? The current method keeps you in a loop that gives no
timeline or indication of the problem that needs to be resolved. It
is very difficult get any effective response. If sending in emails
and leaving messages at the invoice hot line do not elicit a response,
where do we go to get answers? Regina Campbell, Apple Computer |
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| Q. |
As it is now, contracts have to be signed between the allowable
contract date and the time the Form 471 is filed. Since the Form 486
is the form that basically says, "I'm going ahead with these
services and or these services have started...” wouldn’t
it make more sense for the contracts to have to be signed by the time
the Form 486 is done rather than by the time the Form 471 is filed?
Barbara Berkenpas, E-Rate Complete |
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| Q. |
If an applicant posts a Form 470, and has an RFP, does the RFP have
to be open for the full 28 days that the Form 470 is posted? Most
RFPs are only open 2-3 weeks. Mary Jo Sagnella, SNET |
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REMINDER: THE NEXT SERVICE PROVIDER CALL IS SCHEDULED FOR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2004 AT 3:00PM EST. PLEASE E-MAIL YOUR QUESTIONS FOR THE
SERVICE PROVIDER CALL TO THE CUSTOMER
SERVICE BUREAU BY COB ON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2004. TO SUBMIT A QUESTION,
CLICK “Continue” ON THE “Submit A Question” PAGE, CHOOSE
“Service Provider Conference Call” FROM THE “Topic Inquiry”
LIST ON THE NEXT PAGE, AND THEN FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. ALSO, PLEASE WATCH
THE SLD WEBSITE FOR ANY PROGRAM
UPDATES.
Content Last Modified: February 11, 2004
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