Farmington special construction appeal granted
Last Friday, the Wireline Competition Bureau granted an
appeal of a special construction denial filed by Farmington School District in
New Mexico. I represented the school district on its appeal to the
Commission.
The application was denied because USAC found that
Farmington considered the state match in its cost-effectiveness analysis.
In its appeal, Farmington demonstrated that it did not consider the state
match when evaluating the bids and selecting a self-provisioned network as the
most cost-effective. Farmington received a bid for a self-provisioned
network and a bid for a leased dark fiber network. The leased dark fiber
project was less expensive but did not win the bid on overall points. The
bidding evaluation matrix showed that the self-provisioned project bidder,
while receiving the most overall points, had been awarded fewer points in the
cost category, consistent with the pre-discount costs of the services. If
Farmington had considered the state match as part of its evaluation and the
fact that the district would have had lower out-of-pocket costs with the
self-provisioned project, that bidder would have received the most points for
cost. WCB therefore found that Farmington complied with the Commission’s
competitive bidding rules.
Click here to see the full order.
FCC Proposes Cap Increase for RHC
On June 6, 2018, Chairman Pai announced that he is circulating a
draft order that would increase the current $400 million cap for the Universal
Service Fund's Rural Healthcare Program. The News Release can be
viewed here. Chairman
Pai has proposed to increase the cap to $571 million, the amount the cap would
be if it had been indexed to inflation since the program’s inception. If
adopted, the order could eliminate the need to prorate the 2017 funding
requests because the demand exceeded the cap. The five FCC commissioners
will have to vote on the draft order but they can do that at any time; they do
not have to wait for the next Commission meeting in July.
FCC Proposes to Restrict USF funds in the Interest of National Security
The Commission today released its NPRM seeking comment on whether the Commission should prohibit Universal Service Funds (USF) from being used to purchase any equipment or services by any company posing national security threat to the integrity of communications networks. The NPRM was adopted at the Commission’s meeting yesterday. The comment cycle will be set when the NPRM is published in the Federal Register.
Let me know if you are interested in further information or have any questions.
FCC Announces 2Q USF Contribution Factor
On March 9, 2018, the FCC released a Public Notice that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the second quarter of 2018 will be 0.184 or 18.4%. USAC projected demand and expenses for the second quarter of 2018 to be $1.9 million.
The full text may be viewed here.
Cost to Deploy Broadband to Rural America Less Than $20 Billion
SHLB Releases Study on Cost to Connect Rural America
WCB Announces E-rate Inflation-Based Cap
WCB ANNOUNCES E-RATE
INFLATION-BASED CAP FOR FUNDING YEAR 2018
