{"id":33812,"date":"2021-11-16T03:40:31","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T03:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/e-ratepaorg.local\/?p=33812"},"modified":"2022-01-24T01:49:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T01:49:15","slug":"category-2-bidding-rules-for-pa-non-public-schools-and-libraries-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/?p=33812","title":{"rendered":"Category 2 Bidding Rules for PA\u00a0Non-Public\u00a0Schools and\u00a0Libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"

November 16, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

Attached:\u00a0Category 2 Eligibility & Form 470-Bidding Guide – Non Public Schools and Libraries<\/a><\/p>\n

Category 2 E-rate funding covers the equipment and related services that transport data within schools and libraries,\u00a0such as wireless access points, routers, switches, and wiring,\u00a0subject to a 5-year budget cap.\u00a0 Competitive bidding rules related to Category 2 funding for PA\u00a0nonpublic schools and libraries\u00a0applicants mirrors the E-rate requirements exactly as these entity types are not subject to the additional requirements under the PA public procurement code. The following message outlines those bidding requirements for PA nonpublic schools and libraries and a Category 2 Eligibility and Form 470 Filing Guide is attached.<\/p>\n

General C2 Bidding Reminders for\u00a0All\u00a0Applicants (public and non-public):<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. E-rate rules require applicants that include a specific model number or manufacturer’s name to\u00a0also\u00a0include the words “or equivalent” on their Form 470 and RFP\/PEPPM mini-bid documents and then evaluate equivalent products that are bid.\u00a0 Applicants may state that such equipment must be compatible and interoperable with the school\/library\u2019s existing equipment (in which case the existing equipment should be identified).<\/p>\n

2. E-rate rules require that any bid disqualification reasons be stated in the State and Local Procurement Requirements of the Form 470\/RFP or PEPPM mini-bid documents.\u00a0 Disqualification reasons must be yes\/no (either proposals complied or they did not).<\/p>\n

3. USAC requires applicants to consider all bids received up until the date you conduct your bid evaluation if your Form 470 or RFP\/mini-bid don\u2019t list a specific due date.\u00a0 This is different from previously understood guidance which was that vendors should consider the 28th\u00a0day after the 470 is posted as the default deadline to submit bids.\u00a0 Therefore, it is extremely important that you state a deadline for vendors to submit proposals (which, of course, must be on or after the 28-day waiting period).\u00a0 I suggest the following language:\u00a0 \u201cDeadline for vendor proposals is [XXXXXXX] at noon.\u00a0 We reserve the right to reject late-submitted proposals. \u00a0Proposals must be e-mailed to the Form 470 contact unless otherwise noted.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Because USAC requires a full 28-days after vendor questions are answered or new information is provided, I am strongly recommending that applicants provide vendors with 2 weeks to ask questions, answer those questions within 2 days, and then have the bid due date be 29-days after the questions are answered.\u00a0 This will ensure full compliance with the E-rate bidding rules.\u00a0 For example, if you post a Form 470 on December 1, make the deadline for vendor questions be December 15, issue answers to vendor questions (by uploading with the existing Form 470\/RFP in EPC) by December 17, then make vendor bids due January 12.<\/p>\n

5. The\u00a0<\/strong>FCC prohibits the use of Universal Service funding, including E-rate funds, to purchase equipment and services from companies deemed a national security risk.\u00a0 Be certain that you do not consider any proposals that include either Huawei or ZTE equipment.<\/p>\n

6. E-rate rules prohibit applicants from contacting potential vendors prior to bidding to seek an equipment list.\u00a0 Service providers are allowed to answer\u00a0general<\/em>\u00a0questions about the products and services they sell in response to applicant inquiries, but they may not prepare any part of a RFP or spec sheet\/bill of materials that will be used by the applicant for conducting a competitive bid procurement.<\/p>\n

7. Applicants must have a signed contract for all Category 2 funding requests before the Form 471 is filed.\u00a0 This can be as simple as a signed vendor quote as long as it contains this information:<\/p>\n

— Contract signing date (must be on or before the Form 471 submission date).<\/p>\n

— Term of contract (4\/1\/2022 – 9\/30\/2023 for equipment purchases).<\/p>\n

— List of equipment\/quantities\/prices (or services) and installation costs.<\/p>\n

— Whether you want the equipment\/services to be contingent upon E-rate funding approval.<\/p>\n

Recommended Timeline:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The Form 471 filing window dates have not yet been announced but the window is expected to be open from mid- January \u2013 mid-late March, 2022.\u00a0 Because non-public schools and libraries often don\u2019t have a local requirement to first obtain board approval prior to contract signing, these entities can be more flexible with when their bidding process begins.\u00a0 I recommend releasing the Form 470 by mid-December, but no later than the first week in January, with the intention of conducting the bid evaluation and signing a vendor contract in February and submitting the Form 471 in early March.<\/p>\n

If you have any questions related to the information contained in this message, please don’t hesitate to contact me at\u00a0jtschell@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n

— Julie<\/p>\n

Julie Tritt Schell
\nPennsylvania E-rate Coordinator
\n717-730-7133 – o
\njtschell@comcast.net
\nwww.e-ratepa.org<\/p>\n\n

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November 16, 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-listserve_archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}