FCDL Comment:
MR1: The FRN was modified from $37,500/month to $9,720/month to agree with applicant documentation. <><><><><> DR1: The FRN is denied due to a competitive bidding violation. When the services being requested and/or the price of the original contract are significantly modified, the services must be posted on a new FCC Form 470 so that the modified services can be competitively bid. You submitted an addendum to the original contract for this FRN which covers Funding Year (FY) 2013 which changed the bandwidth speed of the contract from 700 mbps to 1000 mbps and the amount of the contract was changed from $8,900/month to $12,000/month. A second addendum was provided which covers FY 2014 which changed the bandwidth speed of the contract from 1000 mbps to 5000 mbps and the amount of the contract was changed from $12,000/month to $37,500/month. These are cardinal changes to the original contract which must be re-bid. However, the establishing FCC Form 470 cited for this FRN is the Form 470 that established the original contract. <><><><><> DR2: FCC Rules require applicants to carefully consider all bids submitted and to choose the most cost effective solution. Documentation provided demonstrates that the applicant did not consider all of the bids that were submitted. Therefore, the applicant has violated program rules. During review you indicated that you received two bids for the services requested in the FRN from Windstream and Cincinnati Bell. You indicated the bid from Windstream was not considered. You stated, "Windstream did not submit a bid for the specific bandwith we had requested, although they had previously stated in an email that they would. Our bid review team did not feel it was appropriate to consider their bid..." The FCC Form 470 cited as the establishing FCC Form 470 requests "Internet Access" and does not contain any specific bandwidth requirement. Thus, you inappropriately disqualified the bid from Windstream from consideration and the FRN is denied.