54.511—Ordering services.
(a) Selecting a provider of eligible services.
In selecting a provider of eligible services, schools, libraries, library consortia, and consortia including any of those entities shall carefully consider all bids submitted and must select the most cost-effective service offering. In determining which service offering is the most cost-effective, entities may consider relevant factors other than the pre-discount prices submitted by providers but price should be the primary factor considered.
(b) Lowest corresponding price.
Providers of eligible services shall not charge schools, school districts, libraries, library consortia, or consortia including any of these entities a price above the lowest corresponding price for supported services, unless the Commission, with respect to interstate services or the state commission with respect to intrastate services, finds that the lowest corresponding price is not compensatory. Promotional rates offered by a service provider for a period of more than 90 days must be included among the comparable rates upon which the lowest corresponding price is determined.
(c) Existing contracts.
(1)
A signed contract for services eligible for discounts pursuant to this subpart between an eligible school or library as defined under § 54.501 or consortium that includes an eligible school or library and a service provider shall be exempt from the requirements set forth in § 54.504(a), (b)(3), and (b)(4) as follows:
(i)
A contract signed on or before July 10, 1997 is exempt from the competitive bid requirements for the life of the contract; or
(ii)
A contract signed after July 10, 1997, but before the date on which the universal service competitive bid system described in § 54.504 is operational, is exempt from the competitive bid requirements only with respect to services that are provided under such contract between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 1998.
(2)
For a school, library, or consortium that includes an eligible school or library that takes service under or pursuant to a master contract, the date of execution of that master contract represents the applicable date for purposes of determining whether and to what extent the school, library, or consortium is exempt from the competitive bid requirements.
(3)
The competitive bid system will be deemed to be operational when the Administrator is ready to accept and post FCC Form 470 from schools and libraries on a website and that website is available for use by service providers.
(d)
(1)
The exemption from the competitive bid requirements set forth in paragraph (c) of this section shall not apply to voluntary extensions or renewals of existing contracts, with the exception that an eligible school or library as defined under § 54.501 or consortium that includes an eligible school or library, that filed an application within the 75-day initial filing window for 1998 (January 30, 1998-April 15, 1998), may voluntarily extend or renew, to a date no later than June 30, 1999, an existing contract that otherwise would terminate between April 15, 1998 and June 30, 1999.
(2)
For the 1998-1999 funding year, a contract exempt from the competitive bid requirement, as described in paragraph (c) of this section, may be voluntarily extended to September 30, 1999 only to the extent necessary to permit delivery of the nonrecurring services subject to that contract and for which discounts have been approved.
[62 FR 32948, June 17, 1997, as amended at 63 FR 2130, Jan. 13, 1998; 63 FR 33586, June 19, 1998; 63 FR 43097, Aug. 12, 1998; 63 FR 70572, Dec. 21, 1998; 64 FR 22810, Apr. 28, 1999; 68 FR 36942, June 20, 2003]