FCDL Comment:
DR1: FCC Rules require applicants to retain all documentation regarding the competitive bidding process. During application review, you were asked to provide all bids associated with this funding request and you were unable to do so. <><><><> DR2: During the review of your application, you originally stated that price was the only factor in determining the winning bid. FCC rules require applicants to carefully consider all bid solutions and chose the most cost effective solution with price of only the eligible products and services being the highest weighted factor in the bid evaluation process. Based on your evaluation, evaluation Comcast was the most cost effective option, and your school board voted to approve that contract. The next day you signed a contract with Net56 and informed USAC that you chose to stay with Net56 because in moving away from Net56 the District would have incurred a lot of expenses and possible legal actions that were not budgeted for and thusly would have made Comcast a more expensive solution. Therefore, USAC determined that you price of the eligible goods and services was not the primary factor in your bid evaluation as required by FCC rules. The cost of ineligible products and services can be included in the bid evaluation matrix as long as it is a separate factor and is not included with the eligible portion of the products and services as the primary factor. Because you included the cost of ineligible products and services in your single evaluation criteria of the price of each proposal, funding will be denied.