FCDL Comment:
DR1:Documentation that contained information needed for potential bidders to respond to your RFP was not available for 28 days in the E-rate Productivity Portal before selecting your service provider. On 6/2/2017 you uploaded "17C-52J Additional Information Document" that contains significant information for the bidders to be able to respond to the FCC Form 470 and RFP. However, this documentation was not available in E-rate Productivity Portal for 28 days before you selected the service provider. Therefore, this FRN is denied. Program procedures require the FCC Form 470, RFP and any documentation providing the additional or modifying the original information in your FCC Form 470 and/or Request for Proposal be uploaded into the FCC Form 470 in E-rate Productivity Portal and made available for 28 days before selecting a service provider. ||DR2:FCC rules governing the E-rate Program state that the competitive bidding process must be fair and open. Circumstances should not be present that would give an unfair competitive advantage to any service provider and all bidders must be treated the same. Additionally, the goal of the competitive bidding process is to have as many bidders as possible respond to an FCC Form 470, RFP, or other solicitation method so that the applicant can receive better service and lower prices. Applicants should not set restrictions that limit the number of prospective bidders and/or deters other service providers from submitting a bid for services which may be more cost effective and interferes with the fair and open competitive bidding process required by FCC Rules. Based on the information provided during our review, we determined that the competitive bidding process that was not fair and open, and therefore, the FRN is denied. ||MR1:The FRN was modified from $209,103.00 to $143,682.00 to agree with the applicant documentation.