Sec. 54.504  Requests for service.

    (a) Competitive bidding requirement. All eligible schools, 
libraries, and consortia including those entities shall participate in a 
competitive bidding process, pursuant to the requirements established in 
this subpart, but this requirement shall not preempt state or local 
competitive bidding requirements.
    (b) Posting of requests for service. (1) Schools, libraries, and 
consortia, including those entities wishing to receive discounts for 
eligible services under this subpart, shall submit requests for services 
to the Schools and Libraries Corporation. Requests for

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services shall include, at a minimum, the following information, to the 
extent applicable to the services requested:
    (i) The computer equipment currently available or budgeted for 
purchase for the current, next, or other future academic years, as well 
as whether the computers have modems and, if so, what speed modems;
    (ii) The internal connections, if any, that the school or library 
has in place or has budgeted to install in the current, next, or future 
academic years, or any specific plans for an organized voluntary effort 
to connect the classrooms;
    (iii) The computer software necessary to communicate with other 
computers over an internal network and over the public 
telecommunications network currently available or budgeted for purchase 
for the current, next, or future academic years;
    (iv) The experience of, and training received by, the relevant staff 
in the use of the equipment to be connected to the telecommunications 
network and training programs for which funds are committed for the 
current, next, or future academic years;
    (v) Existing or budgeted maintenance contracts to maintain 
computers; and
    (vi) The capacity of the school's or library's electrical system in 
terms of how many computers can be operated simultaneously without 
creating a fire hazard.
    (2) The request for services shall be signed by the person 
authorized to order telecommunications and other supported services for 
the school or library and shall include that person's certification 
under oath that:
    (i) The school or library is an eligible entity under 
Secs. 254(h)(4) and 254(h)(5) of the Act and the rules adopted under 
this subpart;
    (ii) The services requested will be used solely for educational 
purposes;
    (iii) The services will not be sold, resold, or transferred in 
consideration for money or any other thing of value;
    (iv) If the services are being purchased as part of an aggregated 
purchase with other entities, the request identifies all co-purchasers 
and the services or portion of the services being purchased by the 
school or library;
    (v) All of the necessary funding in the current funding year has 
been budgeted and approved to pay for the ``non-discount'' portion of 
requested connections and services as well as any necessary hardware, 
software, and to undertake the necessary staff training required to use 
the services effectively;
    (vi) The school, library, or consortium including those entities has 
complied with all applicable state and local procurement processes; and
    (vii) The school, library, or consortium including those entities 
has a technology plan that has been certified by its state, the Schools 
and Libraries Corporation, or an independent entity approved by the 
Commission.
    (3) After posting a description of services from a school, library, 
or consortium of these entities on the school and library website, the 
Schools and Libraries Corporation shall send confirmation of the posting 
to the entity requesting services.
    (c) Rate disputes. Schools, libraries, and consortia including those 
entities, and service providers may have recourse to the Commission, 
regarding interstate rates, and to state commissions, regarding 
intrastate rates, if they reasonably believe that the lowest 
corresponding price is unfairly high or low.
    (1) Schools, libraries, and consortia including those entities may 
request lower rates if the rate offered by the carrier does not 
represent the lowest corresponding price.
    (2) Service providers may request higher rates if they can show that 
the lowest corresponding price is not compensatory, because the relevant 
school, library, or consortium including those entities is not similarly 
situated to and subscribing to a similar set of services to the customer 
paying the lowest corresponding price.

[ 62 FR 32948 , June 17, 1997, as amended at  62 FR 41304 , Aug. 1, 1997]