FCDL Comment:
After a thorough investigation, it has been determined that this funding commitment is denied in full. It was determined that Joseph Philbert, a V.I. DOE employee, was a member of a vendor evaluation committee that selected Basic Services, Inc. as the service provider for the FRN and also had an association with the service provider. Specifically, it was determined that payments were made to Mr. Philbert by Sherwin Ray, the owner of Basic Services, Inc., during calendar years 2004-2006 when Philbert was employed on a part-time basis by Mr. Ray while also employed by V.I. DOE. FCC rules require applicants ensure an open and fair competitive bidding process which begins when the FCC Form 470 is posted to USAC?S Website. The applicant must take an affirmative role in evaluating bids received and should not delegate the evaluation role to anyone associated with a service provider. In order to conduct an open and fair bidding process, the applicant should not have a relationship with a service provider prior to or during the competitive bidding process that could serve to unfairly influence the outcome of a competition. An employee of V.I. DOE engaged in a relationship with a selected service provider and also served on a vendor evaluation committee that selected the service provider, which represents a conflict of interest that compromised the competitive bidding process. Therefore, the FRN is denied.