Competitive bidding - Funding.
A. The following services are hereby declared to be Special
Universal Services:
1. Each eligible healthcare entity in this state as defined in
Section 139.102 of Title 17 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be
eligible to receive Special Universal Services for telemedicine
providers. Special Universal Services for telemedicine providers
shall include the provision of bandwidth per standards as
recommended by the Federal Communications Commission sufficient for
providing telemedicine services including the telemedicine line,
reasonable installation and network termination equipment owned and
operated by the eligible provider that is necessary to provide the
eligible telemedicine service;
2. Each public school as defined in Section 139.102 of Title 17
of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be eligible to receive Special
Universal Services for schools. Special Universal Services for
schools shall include the E-rate Eligible Services List (ESL) for
Category One services as determined by the FCC for the applicable
funding year or, in the absence of such a list, as published by the
Universal Services Administrative Company. In the event no ESL is
available from the FCC or USAC for the applicable funding year,
eligible services will be those on the ESL for the last funding year
for which an ESL was available. Special Universal Services shall
include the provision of bandwidth sufficient for providing
educational services not to exceed, without good cause shown, the
standards established for the relevant funding year by the State
Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) or successor
educational broadband standard including Internet access lines, WAN
connections, reasonable installation, and network termination
equipment owned and operated by the eligible provider as defined by
the ESL that is necessary to provide the eligible service. Student
counts as reported to the State Department of Education in October
of the year prior to the relevant funding year shall be utilized for
the purpose of determining bandwidth recommendations established by
SETDA for purposes of this paragraph. In the absence of standards
prescribed for the applicable funding year, the standards for the
next prescribed funding year shall be used. Special Universal
Services shall not include voice services that use separate lines or
have allocated bandwidth. The Commission may modify the service
considered to be Special Universal Services pursuant to rule, after
notice and hearing; and
3. Each public library as defined in Section 139.102 of Title
17 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be eligible to receive Special
Universal Services for libraries. Special Universal Services for
libraries shall include the E-rate Eligible Services List ("ESL")
for Category One services as determined by the Federal
Communications Commission for the applicable funding year or, in the
absence of such a list, as published by the Universal Services
Administrative Company. In the event no ESL is available from the
FCC or USAC for the applicable funding year, eligible services will
be those on the ESL for the last funding year for which an ESL was
available. Special Universal Services shall include the provision
of bandwidth sufficient for providing library services per standards
as recommended by the Federal Communications Commission including
Internet access lines, reasonable installation and network
termination equipment owned and operated by the eligible provider
that is necessary to provide the eligible service. Special
Universal Services shall not include voice services that use
separate lines or have allocated bandwidth. The Commission may
modify the services considered to be Special Universal Services
pursuant to rule, after notice and hearing.
B. 1. Eligible services that are exempt from competitive
bidding pursuant to state law or the rules of the Federal Universal
Service Support Mechanisms or successor program or programs shall be
exempt from the Special Universal Services competitive bidding
requirements set forth in this subsection, and the Oklahoma
Universal Service Fund Beneficiary must provide evidence of such
exemption as part of the funding request.
2. An OUSF Beneficiary may be eligible to receive funding from
both the OUSF and other state or federal funds; however, in no
instance shall there be a double recovery. The OUSF Beneficiary
shall make every reasonable effort to obtain funding from another
state and/or federal fund designed to support Special Universal
Services. The OUSF Beneficiary shall provide the OUSF Administrator
with information regarding the recipient's request for funding from
government sources designed to support the provisioning of Special
Universal Services, or an explanation of why such funding is not
available or why the recipient of the Special Universal Services did
not request such funding. Failure to provide such documentation may
result in the OUSF Administrator denying in whole or in part, a
request for Special Universal Services funding from the OUSF. If an
OUSF Beneficiary is not eligible to receive funding from other state
or federal funds per the program rules of the other state or federal
funds, the OUSF Beneficiary shall be exempt from the requirement to
obtain funding from another state and/or federal fund designed to
support Special Universal Services set forth in this subsection.
The OUSF Beneficiary must provide evidence of such exemption as part
of the funding request.
3. The credit amount for the provision of Special Universal
Services as provided for in subsection A of this section shall be
determined as provided for in this subsection.
4. An eligible provider shall be entitled to reimbursement from
the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund (OUSF) for providing Special
Universal Services as described in subsection A of this section. In
no case shall the reimbursement from the OUSF be made for an
Internet subscriber fee or charges incurred as a result of services
accessed via the Internet.
5. Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiaries shall conduct
a fair and open competitive bidding process to select the services
and carrier eligible for support. The competitive bidding process
shall meet the following standards:
a. the solicitation of bids shall clearly identify the
bandwidth range requested by the Oklahoma Universal
Service Fund Beneficiary or consortium,
b. the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary shall
not limit bidders based upon technology,
c. the bidding shall be open to all carriers authorized
to receive OUSF funding in the telephone exchange
where the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary
is located or where the members of the consortium are
located, and
d. the bidding shall not be structured in a manner to
exclude carriers eligible to receive OUSF funding in
the telephone exchange where the Oklahoma Universal
Services Fund Beneficiary is located.
6. For Special Universal Services that are competitively bid in
compliance with this act, the credit amount shall be not more than
twenty-five percent (25%) greater than the lowest cost reasonable
qualifying bid of the total prediscount amount of eligible services
plus installation charges, less federal funding support for the same
services including installation charges issued in a funding
commitment letter or similar approval document for the Federal
Universal Service Support Mechanism or successor program or programs
for the applicable funding year.
7. For purposes of this act, "lowest cost reasonable qualifying
bid" means a bid that:
a. represents the lowest total cost proposal including
monthly recurring and nonrecurring charges for
eligible services,
b. is reasonable to meet the needs of the Oklahoma
Universal Service Fund Beneficiary as listed in the
request for bids,
c. is submitted during the same competitive bidding
period as the awarded bid,
d. is for a bandwidth within the range requested for bid
and selected by the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund
Beneficiary,
e. is for the same contract term as the bid that was
selected by the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund
Beneficiary,
f. meets the requirements specified in the request for
bid by the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund
Beneficiary, and
g. was the result of a fair and open competitive bidding
process as defined in this act.
8. If a long-term contract includes change clauses for changes
in sites or services, the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund
Beneficiary shall not be required to conduct a new competitive bid
during the life of the original contract, which may not exceed five
(5) years.
9. For eligible services associated with an Oklahoma Universal
Service Fund Beneficiary that does not competitively bid in
compliance with this act, the credit amount shall be determined at
the discretion of the Administrator.
C. 1. Special Universal Services shall not be sold, resold or
transferred in consideration for money or any other thing of value.
2. The OUSF shall not fund more than one eligible provider for
the same service at the same location for the same time period,
except during a transition period from one eligible provider to
another. Funding during a transition period shall not exceed thirty
(30) days.
D. The Administrator shall have the authority to investigate
each request for OUSF funding for Special Universal Services in
order to ensure that the OUSF pays only for the Special Universal
Services authorized in this section. The Administrator shall deny
requests for OUSF funding in excess of the credit amounts authorized
in subsection B of this section unless good cause is shown.
E. The Corporation Commission shall have authority to
investigate and modify or reject in whole or part a Special
Universal Service request under subsection A of this section if the
request does not meet the specified criteria, if the Corporation
Commission's investigation determines that the entity has not
provided sufficient documentation for the requested services, or if
the Corporation Commission determines that granting the request is
not in the public interest due to fraud.
F. 1. The Special Universal Services preapproval and
reimbursement procedures as set forth in this subsection shall be
effective and shall apply for each applicable funding year beginning
July 1, 2017.
2. The Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary
administrative preapproval submission process shall be as follows:
a. the Administrator shall establish an administrative
approval process to be initiated by the Oklahoma
Universal Service Fund Beneficiary in a timely fashion
for the purpose of determining eligible services and
credit amounts for the upcoming funding year. The
administrative preapproval submission process shall
include all necessary forms and instructions,
hereinafter referred to as the "OUSF administrative
preapproval request". The Administrator shall
determine the form for the OUSF administrative
preapproval requests. The form shall be posted on the
Commission website no later than June 30 of each year
to become effective for any OUSF administrative
preapproval requests submitted after August 31 of that
year. Any party may file an objection to the form
with the Commission within fifteen (15) days of
posting. The Commission shall issue a final order on
the objection to the form within thirty (30) days,
b. the Administrator shall issue an approval funding
letter to the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund
Beneficiary and the eligible provider within ninety
(90) days of receipt of a properly completed OUSF
administrative preapproval request. Failure by the
Administrator to issue an approval funding letter
within the ninety-day period means the OUSF
administrative preapproval request submitted by the
Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary is
approved as submitted and the subsequent request for
reimbursement submitted by the eligible provider which
is consistent with the information submitted in the
OUSF administrative preapproval request shall be
approved as submitted,
c. the approval funding letter shall inform the Oklahoma
Universal Service Fund Beneficiary of the preapproved
services and associated credit amount for the
applicable funding year. The amount of OUSF funding
preapproved under this subsection may be subject to
adjustments based on the amount of support received
from other sources, if any, and adjustments to pricing
that may occur between the time of preapproval and
installation of service,
d. any OUSF administrative preapproval request shall be
submitted to the Administrator in the format outlined
in instructions posted on the Commission website. The
OUSF administrative preapproval request shall include
but not be limited to the following:
(1) a Special Universal Services request form as
posted on the Commission website no later than
June 30 of each year for requests made after
August 31 of that year,
(2) a Federal Universal Service Support Mechanism or
successor program or programs form used to
request federal funding support for the
applicable funding year,
(3) a federal funding commitment letter for the
applicable funding year, if issued, and
(4) competitive bidding documentation for the
relevant funding year,
e. issuance of an OUSF approval funding letter by the
Administrator shall occur without a Commission order,
f. OUSF administrative preapproval requests not submitted
by June 30 prior to the applicable funding year shall
be processed by the Administrator on a first-in-first-
out basis, and
g. after a preapproval funding letter has been issued, an
OUSF Beneficiary may submit a new administrative
preapproval request to provide corrections or
additional information per program rules issued by the
Commission.
3. The eligible provider reimbursement process shall be as
follows:
a. requests for reimbursement shall be submitted per
procedures as set forth in subsection D of Section
139.106 of Title 17 of the Oklahoma Statutes,
b. the Administrator shall post the monthly payout report
to the Commission website,
c. funding for eligible services, including federal
funding, shall not exceed actual eligible expenses,
d. any change in cost of eligible services during the
funding year shall be reported by the eligible
provider to the OUSF and:
(1) all decreases in cost shall be deemed approved
until the next eligible bidding period and all
cost savings shall be properly allocated to the
OUSF and the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund
Beneficiary, and
(2) increases in cost shall be reviewed for approval
as provided for in Commission rules, and
e. issuance of a determination by the Administrator shall
not require a Commission order.‹ Prev All Oklahoma sections Next ›
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