Hi Anne, What if we don't like any of the bids we receive, do we have to award a contract? Looking forward to your reply, Jennifer On Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 9:10 AM, Anne Perloff <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > After the Form 470 is posted, there is a mandatory 28 day (minimum) > waiting period during which vendors may submit proposals to you for > consideration and/or contact you for more information relating to the > services you listed on your Form 470. Then, on the 29th day that your Form > 470 was posted or after, you may select a vendor, sign a contract and > submit the Form 471 to request E-Rate funding for those services. > > > If contacted by a vendor about a specific service listed on a 470, > applicants are required to provide relevant information to prospective > vendors so they may submit solid proposals for consideration. Do not simply > ignore these inquiries as it would be a violation of the E-Rate competitive > bidding requirements. Applicants are encouraged to keep a log of all vendor > inquiries and the responses to these inquiries. However, generic emails > from vendors saying that the service provider can provide the general type > of service requested is not considered a good faith response to a Form 470 > posting and can be considered 'spam' and ignored by the applicant. In > addition, inquiries from "brokers" or mass e-mails that are not specific to > your 470 are not considered legitimate inquiries by USAC. > > > Below is a compilation of some frequently asked questions regarding vendor > selection. > > > > *1. What should we do if we received no bids for a service listed on our > 470?* > > > If you do not receive any bids after your 28-day waiting period, you can > contact service providers to solicit bids and can then review and evaluate > any bids received as a result. However, remember that if you post a new FCC > Form 470, issue a new Request for Proposal (RFP), or amend your existing > RFP, you start a new 28-day waiting period. > > > If the Form 470 is for an existing service, you can choose to remain with > your incumbent provider. You are not required to seek more than one bid, > but if you only get one bid, you must make sure that it is cost effective. > > > Memorialize what occurred by writing a memo for your files (or email to > yourself. The memo should include the following: > > > "At the conclusion of the Form 470 28-day waiting period, we did not > receive any bids. We subsequently contacted [LIST OF VENDORS]." > > > > *2. What should we do if we only receive one bid for a service listed on > our 470?* > > > Memorialize why you selected the vendor you did by writing a memo for your > files (or email to yourself) explaining why you selected that particular > vendor. The memo should include the following: > > > "At the conclusion of the Form 470 28-day waiting period, we only received > one bid, which was from [VENDOR]. We reviewed the bid for cost > effectiveness and selected [VENDOR] as the provider for [DESCRIPTION OF > PRODUCT OR SERVICE] to our entity. > > > > *3. What should we do if our existing vendor did not submit a bid?* > > > You may use a recent invoice from your existing provider as a bid response > and evaluate that invoice with the other bids received. > > > > * 4. Do we have to select the lowest bid?* > > > No. You are just required to select the lowest responsible bid after you > have completed a bid evaluation process. Keep in mind though that price of > eligible services has to be the most heavily weighted factor, which means > for example that if you have 3 criteria that you judged the proposals on, > the price of eligible services must be at least 34% of the total weight. > Many other factors besides price may be considered (for example, vendor > qualifications/experience, in-state preference, existing relationship with > school, references from other school customers, cost of ineligible > services/equipment such as new cell phones required to run on vendor's > network). Keep all of the bids received and the tool you used to evaluate > bid responses as proof that you selected the lowest responsible bid. > > > > *5. Are you required to respond to vendors that contact you after the > 28-day waiting period?* > > > No. But you may do so as long as you afford all vendors the same > opportunity. > > > > *6. Are you required to meet with vendors?* > > > No. But you may do so as long as you afford all vendors the same > opportunity. > > > > *7. Is there anything we can do during this 28 day waiting period?* > > > Of course! > > - You are permitted to reach out to vendors and encourage them to > submit proposals in response to your Form 470 posting. > - Begin your Form 471 online by completing the information that you > already know. Then when you select your vendors, you can complete the > remainder. > > > *8. When can I file a Form 471?* > > > If your 28-day waiting period has already expired (meaning your Allowable > Contract Date has passed), you may submit your Form 471 if you have > conducted your bid evaluation, selected your vendor(s), and signed a > contract (unless you are just purchasing on a month-to-month basis). > > > _____________________________________________ > > *Anne Perloff* > Maine State E-Rate Coordinator for Schools > Networkmaine ... a unit of the University of Maine System > > Web: www.networkmaine.net/erate/ > > Email: [log in to unmask] > > Phone: 207-561-3584 > > Fax: 207-561-3531 > > Mail: > Networkmaine > 5752 Neville Hall Rm 244 > University of Maine > Orono, ME 04469 > > -- Jennifer Tabor Director of Curriculum RSU 64 Superintendent's Office 408 Main St. Corinth, ME 04427 207-285-3334