FCDL Comment:
DR1: FCC rules mandate fair and open competition and that the winning vendor should be selected with price of the eligible goods and services given the most weight. Even though that process was followed, the winning vendor was not selected in accordance with the process listed in the vendor selection documentation provided during the review, which violates program rules. After scoring all bids, you did not select the bid that received the most points, SmartWave. SmartWave Technologies LLC received nearly five points more than Technology Integration Group, a Xirrus reseller, and in spite of outcome you did not select SmartWave as the winning bid, which is a violation of program rules. SmartWave was not disqualified from the bid, and therefore, after receiving the most points in the evaluation, and in accordance with program rules, should have been awarded the contract. Applicants have significant latitude in developing the bid evaluation criteria, as long as price of the eligible goods and services is the primary factor. However, after determining those criteria and scoring the bids, the applicant must abide by the outcome of that review process and cannot then change the outcome at will even if, as you stated, you believed that the decision to change the award was in the best interest of the district. Furthermore, the RFP for these requests mirrors language taken from the Xirrus website. Specifically, RFP Section 3.3 titled Priorities is a near exact copy of the Guide for Designing a Wi-Fi Network from the Xirrus website. Copying the RFP requirements from a vendor?s website signals to other bidders that the district may have already reached a conclusion about the outcome of the competitive bidding process before it has run, and compromises the fair and open competitive bidding process required by FCC rules. Accordingly, the FRN is denied.