FCDL Comment:
DR1:No contract or legally binding agreement was in place when the FCC Form 471 Certification was filed. The contract submitted was signed by the applicant on 07/1/2016, which is after the Certification Postmark Date of the Form 471. FCC Rules require that a contract be signed and dated by the applicant or a legally binding agreement is entered into prior to the filing of the FCC Form 471 Certification for the products and services requested. Since this requirement was not met, the FRN is denied.||DR2:The FRN is denied for failure to advise bidders that a RFP was issued. A RFP was issued but the referenced FCC Form 470 advised potential bidders that no RFP existed.During the review process you provided an RFP that contains significant information for the bidders to be able to respond to the FCC Form 470 and RFP. Program procedures require the FCC Form 470, RFP as well as documentation providing any 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 for all potential service providers to evaluate. Documentation that contained information needed for potential bidders to respond to your RFP was not uploaded to the E-rate Productivity Portal and thus not made available for all potential vendors to evaluate. Therefore, this FRN is denied.||DR3:Documentation was not provided to demonstrate that the referenced RFP was available for 28 days after the filing of the FCC Form 470. The RFP was released on 03/21/2016 and responses were due on 03/28/2016. Program rules require applicants to wait at least 28 days after releasing an RFP or posting a FCC Form 470, whichever is later, before selecting a service provider, signing a contract, or submitting an FCC Form 471.||DR4:The description for the products and services on an RFP issued contains a particular manufacturer’s name, brand, products and/or services without also specifying “or equivalent”. This is a competitive bidding violation because there is no indication that the RFP is also allowing a service provider to submit a bid for equivalent products and/or services. This undermines the competitive bidding process by eliminating the opportunity for the applicant to purchase an equivalent or better product that may be less expensive or to choose a less expensive service provider.