§ 54.504   Requests for services.

   (a) Filing of the FCC Form 471. An eligible school, library, or
   consortium that includes an eligible school or library seeking to
   receive discounts for eligible services under this subpart shall, upon
   entering into a signed contract or other legally binding agreement for
   eligible services, submit a completed FCC Form 471 to the
   Administrator.

   (1) The FCC Form 471 shall be signed by the person authorized to order
   eligible services for the eligible school, library, or consortium and
   shall include that person's certification under oath that:

   (i) The schools meet the statutory definition of “elementary school” or
   “secondary school” as defined in § 54.500 of this subpart, do not
   operate as for-profit businesses, and do not have endowments exceeding
   $50 million.

   (ii) The libraries or library consortia eligible for assistance from a
   State library administrative agency under the Library Services and
   Technology Act of 1996 do not operate as for-profit businesses and
   whose budgets are completely separate from any school (including, but
   not limited to, elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and
   universities).

   (iii) The entities listed on the FCC Form 471 application have secured
   access to all of the resources, including computers, training,
   software, maintenance, internal connections, and electrical
   connections, necessary to make effective use of the services purchased.
   The entities listed on the FCC Form 471 will pay the discounted charges
   for eligible services from funds to which access has been secured in
   the current funding year or, for entities that will make installment
   payments, they will ensure that they are able to make all required
   installment payments. The billed entity will pay the non-discount
   portion of the cost of the goods and services to the service
   provider(s).

   (iv) The entities listed on the FCC Form 471 application have complied
   with all applicable state and local laws regarding procurement of
   services for which support is being sought.

   (v) The services the school, library, or consortium purchases at
   discounts will be used primarily for educational purposes and will not
   be sold, resold, or transferred in consideration for money or any other
   thing of value, except as allowed by § 54.513.

   (vi) The entities listed in the application have complied with all
   program rules and acknowledge that failure to do so may result in
   denial of discount funding and/or recovery of funding.

   (vii) The applicant understands that the discount level used for shared
   services is conditional, for future years, upon ensuring that the most
   disadvantaged schools and libraries that are treated as sharing in the
   service, receive an appropriate share of benefits from those services.

   (viii) The applicant recognizes that it may be audited pursuant to its
   application, that it will retain for ten years any and all worksheets
   and other records relied upon to fill out its application, and that, if
   audited, it will make such records available to the Administrator.

   (ix) Except as exempted by § 54.503(e), all bids submitted to a school,
   library, or consortium seeking eligible services were carefully
   considered and the most cost-effective bid was selected in accordance
   with § 54.503 of this subpart, with price being the primary factor
   considered, and it is the most cost-effective means of meeting
   educational needs and technology goals.

   (2) All pricing and technology infrastructure information submitted as
   part of an FCC Form 471 shall be treated as public and non-confidential
   by the Administrator unless the applicant specifies a statute, rule, or
   other restriction, such as a court order or an existing contract
   limitation barring public release of the information.

   (i) Contracts and other agreements executed after adoption of this rule
   may not prohibit disclosure of pricing or technology infrastructure
   information.

   (ii) The exemption for existing contract limitations shall not apply to
   voluntary extensions or renewals of existing contracts.

   (b) Mixed eligibility requests. If 30 percent or more of a request for
   discounts made in an FCC Form 471 is for ineligible services, the
   request shall be denied in its entirety.

   (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.

   (d) Service substitution. (1) The Administrator shall grant a request
   by an applicant to substitute a service or product for one identified
   on its FCC Form 471 where:

   (i) The service or product has the same functionality;

   (ii) The substitution does not violate any contract provisions or state
   or local procurement laws;

   (iii) The substitution does not result in an increase in the percentage
   of ineligible services or functions; and

   (iv) The applicant certifies that the requested change is within the
   scope of the controlling FCC Form 470, including any associated
   Requests for Proposal, for the original services.

   (2) In the event that a service substitution results in a change in the
   pre-discount price for the supported service, support shall be based on
   the lower of either the pre-discount price of the service for which
   support was originally requested or the pre-discount price of the new,
   substituted service.

   (3) For purposes of this rule, the two categories of eligible services
   are not deemed to have the same functionality as one another.

   (e) Mixed eligibility services. A request for discounts for a product
   or service that includes both eligible and ineligible components must
   allocate the cost of the contract to eligible and ineligible
   components.

   (1) Ineligible components. If a product or service contains ineligible
   components, costs must be allocated to the extent that a clear
   delineation can be made between the eligible and ineligible components.
   The delineation must have a tangible basis, and the price for the
   eligible portion must be the most cost-effective means of receiving the
   eligible service.

   (2) Ancillary ineligible components. If a product or service contains
   ineligible components that are ancillary to the eligible components,
   and the product or service is the most cost-effective means of
   receiving the eligible component functionality, without regard to the
   value of the ineligible component, costs need not be allocated between
   the eligible and ineligible components. Discounts shall be provided on
   the full cost of the product or service. An ineligible component is
   “ancillary” if a price for the ineligible component cannot be
   determined separately and independently from the price of the eligible
   components, and the specific package remains the most cost-effective
   means of receiving the eligible services, without regard to the value
   of the ineligible functionality.

   (3) The Administrator shall utilize the cost allocation requirements of
   this paragraph in evaluating mixed eligibility requests under paragraph
   (e)(1) of this section.

   (f) Filing of FCC Form 473. All service providers eligible to provide
   telecommunications and other supported services under this subpart
   shall submit annually a completed FCC Form 473 to the Administrator.
   The FCC Form 473 shall be signed by an authorized person and shall
   include that person's certification under oath that:

   (1) The prices in any offer that this service provider makes pursuant
   to the schools and libraries universal service support program have
   been arrived at independently, without, for the purpose of restricting
   competition, any consultation, communication, or agreement with any
   other offeror or competitor relating to those prices, the intention to
   submit an offer, or the methods or factors used to calculate the prices
   offered;

   (2) The prices in any offer that this service provider makes pursuant
   to the schools and libraries universal service support program will not
   be knowingly disclosed by this service provider, directly or
   indirectly, to any other offeror or competitor before bid opening (in
   the case of a sealed bid solicitation) or contract award (in the case
   of a negotiated solicitation) unless otherwise required by law; and

   (3) No attempt will be made by this service provider to induce any
   other concern to submit or not to submit an offer for the purpose of
   restricting competition.

   (4) The service provider listed on the FCC Form 473 certifies that the
   invoices that are submitted by this Service Provider to the Billed
   Entity for reimbursement pursuant to Billed Entity Applicant
   Reimbursement Forms (FCC Form 472) are accurate and represent payments
   from the Billed Entity to the Service Provider for equipment and
   services provided pursuant to E-rate program rules.

   (5) The service provider listed on the FCC Form 473 certifies that the
   bills or invoices issued by this service provider to the billed entity
   are for equipment and services eligible for universal service support
   by the Administrator, and exclude any charges previously invoiced to
   the Administrator by the service provider.

   [ 79 FR 49199 , Aug. 19, 2014, as amended at  79 FR 68634 , Nov. 18, 2014;
    80 FR 5989 , Feb. 4, 2015]

   Effective Date Notes: At  79 FR 49199 , Aug. 19, 2014, § 54.504 was
   revised. However, paragraphs (f)(4) and (f)(5) will become effective
   July 1, 2016.

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