From Sabrina.Carson at wesd.org Mon Jan 11 11:00:43 2010 From: Sabrina.Carson at wesd.org (Carson, Sabrina) Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:00:43 -0800 Subject: [Erate] E-Rate Central News of the Week for January 11, 2010 Message-ID: <06D9FD985A42704BB0E8F483ACA3FE2E3F41706D53@miranda.wesd.org> See the attached newsletter for articles on: * Funding Status Update. Funding waves for both FY 2008 and FY 2009 will be released this week. The application window for FY 2010 is open and will close February 11, 2010. * Invoicing and Funds Disbursement ? Part 4. The fourth and final article in a series on invoicing procedures deals with the distribution of discounts to consortium members. * E-Rate Updates and Reminders. The next non-recurring service invoice deadline is January 28th. The FCC has asked for a month?s extension to deliver its National Broadband Plan to Congress. Whenever possible, contract expirations should be aligned with funding year last-day-of-service dates. * Schools and Libraries News Brief dated January 8th ? Competitive Bidding. The second in a series of procurement procedures discusses such topics as: (a) E-rate vs. state rules; (b) RFPs; (c) valid bids; (d) bidder disqualification; (e) multi-tier bidding; (f) mandatory bidder meetings; and (g) zero- or one-bid response procedures. Sabrina Carson e-Rate and Procurement Customer Support Willamette Education Service District 2611 Pringle Rd SE Salem, OR 97302 P: 503.540.4495 F: 503.540.2962 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Week_01_11 - SECA.doc Type: application/octet-stream Size: 134144 bytes Desc: Week_01_11 - SECA.doc URL: From Sabrina.Carson at wesd.org Wed Jan 20 08:24:28 2010 From: Sabrina.Carson at wesd.org (Carson, Sabrina) Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:24:28 -0800 Subject: [Erate] E-Rate Central News of the Week for January 18, 2010 Message-ID: <06D9FD985A42704BB0E8F483ACA3FE2E3F418E1C49@miranda.wesd.org> See the attached newsletter for articles on: * Funding Status Update. Another funding wave for FY 2009 will be released this week. The application window for FY 2010 is open and will close February 11, 2010. The filing deadline for FY 2010 Form 470s has passed. * Maintenance, Warranties, and Uncertainties. USAC and the FCC have yet to clarify the definition of ?unbundled warranties? recently deemed ineligible. This could affect the Priority 2 eligibility of certain products such as Cisco SMARTnet. Maintenance contracts including any warranty-like services should be crafted accordingly. * E-Rate Updates and Reminders. The next non-recurring service invoice deadline is January 28th. The FCC is seeking final comments prior to releasing its National Broadband Plan. Another person, convicted of E-rate fraud, has been suspended from the program. * Schools and Libraries News Brief dated January 15th ? Application Process. The SLD?s latest News Brief reviews the types of information required to complete a Form 471 application. Sabrina Carson e-Rate and Procurement Customer Support Willamette Education Service District 2611 Pringle Rd SE Salem, OR 97302 P: 503.540.4495 F: 503.540.2962 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Week_01_18 - SECA.doc Type: application/octet-stream Size: 109056 bytes Desc: Week_01_18 - SECA.doc URL: From Sabrina.Carson at wesd.org Tue Jan 26 09:03:25 2010 From: Sabrina.Carson at wesd.org (Carson, Sabrina) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:03:25 -0800 Subject: [Erate] E-Rate Central News of the Week for January 25, 2010 Message-ID: <06D9FD985A42704BB0E8F483ACA3FE2E3F41A61813@miranda.wesd.org> See the attached newsletter for articles on: * Funding Status Update. Funding waves for both FY 2008 and FY 2009 will be released this week. The application window for FY 2010 will close February 11, 2010. * Proposed New CIPA Rules. The comment period has been set for the FCC?s tentative new CIPA rules. The proposed rule changes include a new Internet Safety Policy certification regarding the education of minors. * Form 471 Reminder Letters for FY 2010. The SLD has just sent out reminder letters to all applicants who had filed Form 470s for FY 2010, but who had not yet filed Form 471 applications. * E-Rate Updates and Reminders. The deadline for submitting final comments on the proposed National broadband Plan is January 27th. The next non-recurring service invoice deadline is January 28th. The FCC appears ready to permit after-hour use of school Internet facilities by the broader community. The FCC has a truth-in-billing proceeding underway that could ultimately clarify the eligibility of various cellular surcharges. * Schools and Libraries News Brief dated January 15th ? Calculating Discounts. The SLD?s latest News Brief discusses the calculation of discounts for various types of entities. Sabrina Carson e-Rate and Procurement Customer Support Willamette Education Service District 2611 Pringle Rd SE Salem, OR 97302 P: 503.540.4495 F: 503.540.2962 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Week_01_25 - SECA.doc Type: application/octet-stream Size: 116224 bytes Desc: Week_01_25 - SECA.doc URL: From Sabrina.Carson at wesd.org Tue Jan 26 12:22:25 2010 From: Sabrina.Carson at wesd.org (Carson, Sabrina) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:22:25 -0800 Subject: [Erate] Some Bid Matrix Guidance from USAC. Message-ID: <06D9FD985A42704BB0E8F483ACA3FE2E3F41A61B1A@miranda.wesd.org> I have gotten a lot of questions lately about Bid Selection Matrices and how to effectively use them. Here is a short article and link that USAC released today that may help some of you. As always, please feel free contact me if you have questions about it. :) Important Tip: (1/26/10) COMPETITIVE BIDDING: How do I prepare an evaluation grid? Although price of the eligible goods and services must be the most heavily weighted factor in your evaluation, you can also include other factors that are important to you when you evaluate bids. You can refer to the sample bid evaluation matrix posted on the USAC website as a guide. More information REMINDER: Request new entity numbers now if you will need them to file your Form 471. Sabrina Carson e-Rate and Procurement Customer Support Willamette Education Service District 2611 Pringle Rd SE Salem, OR 97302 P: 503.540.4495 F: 503.540.2962 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Sabrina.Carson at wesd.org Thu Jan 28 14:17:44 2010 From: Sabrina.Carson at wesd.org (Carson, Sabrina) Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:17:44 -0800 Subject: [Erate] FCC requesting data on Oregon Dark Fiber Networks! Message-ID: <06D9FD985A42704BB0E8F483ACA3FE2E3F41AE4A4A@miranda.wesd.org> In November, the FCC requested comment on the National Broadband Plan and e-Rate. The Oregon Department of Education crafted a response to this request after sending out a form to the field requesting their opinions on several points. After reviewing all of the responses, the FCC has asked us (among others) to provide data regarding Dark Fiber costs and usage in our state. It is an informal request, but also has a VERY short timeline. We would like to provide as accurate and detailed of a response as possible, but only have a few days to pull it together. My hope is that because so many of you are working on getting bids for form 470's and also have recently completed applications for the Last Mile grant, that you may have either anecdotal or statistical data (or both) easily accessible and would be able to spend a few minutes forwarding the data to me. Ideally, the data would contain information about the costs, benefits, and challenges of establishing/maintaining a Dark Fiber network, both leased and owned. This is an extremely exciting opportunity for our voices to be heard, and the fact that they are explicitly ASKING for this information is extremely encouraging. We are not just looking for the best outcomes; we want to know about good AND bad experiences so that we can present a balanced perspective to the FCC. Please consider responding to this request if your schedule permits. It could be part of the catalyst for positive changes in the e-Rate program. I have outlined some questions below to help you get a feel for what kinds of information would be most helpful. Do you currently use a dark fiber network? If not, what is the primary reason (cost, not enough demand, etc)? If you do not own or lease a dark fiber WAN at this time, have you been quoted for one? If so, what was the quote amount? Did e-Rate eligibility play a role in whether or not you purchased or leased a dark fiber WAN? If you do use a dark fiber WAN, do you lease it or own it? Why did you choose to lease rather than buy, or vice versa? What positive affect did/would the installation of the network have for your district? If you OWN the WAN, how much did it cost to install? What is the capacity? What are any recurring charges (pole charges and the like)? If you LEASE the WAN, what is the monthly cost? What is the capacity? Do you ask for e-Rate support for this service? Please feel free to include ANY and ALL information in addition to the above if you feel it is relevant. As always, please contact me with any questions. You can reply to this request in any format you like. Thanks again for your help on such short notice. :) Sabrina Carson e-Rate and Procurement Customer Support Willamette Education Service District 2611 Pringle Rd SE Salem, OR 97302 P: 503.540.4495 F: 503.540.2962 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: