Opposition Continues Against Proposed FCC E-rate Competitive Bidding Portal

Local officials and E-rate groups asked the FCC to heed calls to abandon its proposed centralized online competitive bidding portal for the program, said reply comments in docket 21-455 (see 2204280051). Many said the record showed such a change would hurt smaller E-rate participants and remains unnecessary. Some advocated for updates to the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s training and how it shares information with participants.

The proposed portal "may make the E-rate application process significantly more complicated without providing offsetting fraud-prevention benefits to program participants and the public," said the National School Boards Association. Local officials are "well familiar with state and local procurement requirements and know how to administer them effectively," the group said, and the FCC should instead focus on improving USAC's "technical support and training." The agency could also update its existing eligible services list, said Funds for Learning and more than 350 local E-rate participants.

The proposed portal could "unintentionally tilt the competitive playing field in favor of larger providers over smaller ones," said the city of Boston. It would also "interfere" with existing state and local procurement processes, said NATOA. The group agreed with other commenters that some participants may leave the program as a result. The Arkansas State Library said "many" small and rural libraries would drop out because they "do not have either additional staff time to devote to a more complex filing process or funding to hire a consultant."

"There must be a distinction made between inadvertent errors based on good faith efforts to follow program rules versus blatant and criminal behavior to circumvent bidding rules and defraud the E-rate program," said the State E-rate Coordinators' Alliance. The program's current rules are "fair and provide a level-playing field," SECA said. It backed USAC modifying its open data portal to "embed consortia members’ zip code information into the vendor Form 470 search queries and results."

There's "overwhelming opposition to the idea of creating a federal competitive bidding portal from virtually the entire E-rate community," said the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition. SHLB said the coalition of rural providers supporting the portal "make several unsubstantiated claims of waste and fraud in the E-rate program without providing evidence to support these unfortunate allegations." The group noted that the GAO "did not recommend adoption of a competitive portal" in its 2020 report but instead "recommended that the commission pursue three different remedies to improve the process."

WTA said it "continues to oppose the NPRM proposal" but agreed with the coalition of rural providers that E-rate applicants should file a Form 470 and request for proposal "in every zip code in which service is being requested." WTA also backed requiring USAC to "incorporate mapping technology to track which schools and libraries have existing high-speed fiber optic service." The rural providers' proposals would "eliminate the overbuilding of existing USF-supported facilities and other waste," WTA said.

Make Form 470 filing instructions "clear and available for all participants," said ENA Services. Confusion on how to fill out the forms can "result in fewer bidders and less competition for services," the group said. ENA agreed with other commenters that the FCC should modify its rules for service transitions and temporary service substitutions when needed.