Erin Rock, Secretary

STEP 1: COMPETITIVE BIDDINGFCC Form 470 and Requests For Proposals

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PLAN FCC 470 EVALS

CONTRACTADMIN

WINDOWFCC 471

PIA FCC 486 INVOICE

RULES AND REGS

§54.503 Competitive Bidding Requirements.

• Must post a Form 470.• Form 470 and RFP must be posted concurrently for at least 28 days.• ALL bids must be considered.• Price must be the most heavily weighted option.• Process must be open and fair

➢ All bidders must have the same access to the same information for the same amount of time.

Just a few….

RULES AND REGS

§54.503 Competitive Bidding Requirements.

• Follow all local, state, and FCC competitive bidding requirements.

Just a few….

➢ Whichever is the most stringent.

Example: If local or state rules do not require a new contract to add new technology, you still need to post FCC Form 470 and follow all subsequent FCC rules.

RULES AND REGS

✓Avoid conflicts of interest.✓Comply with gift rules.✓No provider involvement.

RULES AND REGS

“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.”

WHEN TO POST A 470?

– Establishing a new contract.

– Altering the contract beyond initial scope.

• Increasing services and/or bandwidth.

• Adding entities.

• Negotiating new pricing.

• Extending contract- When State law allows

NOT THE SAME AS PRICE REFRESH

Is your current contract E-rate eligible, even if it wasn’t procured using an FCC Form 470?

470 PLANNING

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Opening of 471 Window

470 PLANNING

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Opening of 471 Window

Close of Admin Window

BEFORE YOU POST…

Consider the following:

What services will you be seeking?Will you sign a contract?Have you considered tariff or month-to-month

agreements?Which 470 drop down options will you choose?Have you built a bid matrix?Do you have a clearly defined bid evaluation

process?

BEFORE YOU POST…

Consider the following:

Single Tier or multi tier evaluation? What rules govern how to handle multi tier

evaluation processes?Have you considered creating an RFP?Can you use just the 470 and still protect

your organization?Are you staying tech neutral?

What minimum steps should you take?

– Assess needs.

– Identify solicitation team, procurement officer.

– Define timeline of events, scope, statement of work.

– Document response criteria and processes.

– Document anticipated timeline and deadlines.

– Post FCC Form 470 and any RFP documents.

– FCC Form 470 and all RFP documents must be available concurrently for at least 28 days.

BEFORE YOU POST…

Mandatory

Know your options! Have you considered?

– Bulk Purchasing

– Master Contracts

– Piggy Backing

Competitive Bidding Exemptions

– SUNCOM State Master Contracts

– Low cost/high speed Internet

$3,600 or less annually and at least 100 Mbpsdownstream and 10 Mbps upstream.

BEFORE YOU POST…

What’s in a name?

Generically, an RFP may refer to any bidding document that describes the project and

requested services in more detail than that provided in the entry

fields on the FCC Form 470.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Why?

When?

How?

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

➢ Contains more information for potential bidders regarding the scope, bidding process, location, or other relevant details.

➢ Provides protection.

➢ It doesn’t have to be fancy…

➢ Fiber projects (Leased Dark Fiber and/or Self Provisioned)➢ If state or local law requires.

Statement of work and/or Scope of work

Scoring Criteria

Tech Plans

Process Description

➢ Price Sheet➢ Evaluator’s Scoring Criteria➢ Total Disclosure

➢ What we want.➢ How we want it.➢ Future plans.➢ SLA’s➢ Auto disqualifiers

Potential Pitfall

• Laundry List requests

• No “out” clauses

• Timing

• Restrictive descriptions

• Room for Growth

• No clause covering

How to Correct

• Detailed description of services and need, e.g. RFP

• Conditions for termination

• Procurement timeline, service dates, and potential renewals

• Option to add speeds, update technology, renegotiate price, increase 470 min and max

migration• Allow for MTM after contract has ended

*Requires a Form 470

TIPS TO INCREASE FUNDING SUCCESS: Leverage the procurement process to drive down

costs and make providers compete to serve you.

Remember YOU control the process!

✓ Post anticipated needs in descriptions.

Build in options to reduce prices, update technology, extend the contract term, etc.

Allow for changes to services due to growth, technology updates, and changes in prices, speeds, adding locations, etc.

Document potential “pain points”.

Erin Rock, Secretary

EPC 470 EXAMPLE

NEW DROP DOWNS…

NEW DROP DOWNS…

If going out to bid for Internet Access:I would suggest…

✓ Internet Access: ISP ONLY

✓ Internet Access/Transport Bundled

✓ Leased Lit Fiber

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WHY?

NEW DROP DOWNS…

If going out to bid for Transport ONLY:I would suggest…

✓ Transport Only (No ISP)

✓ Internet Access/Transport Bundled

✓ Leased Lit Fiber

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NEW DROP DOWNS…

If going out to bid for Bundled Internet:I would suggest…

✓ Internet Access/Transport Bundled

✓ Leased Lit Fiber

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