Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Request for Review ) of the Decision of ) the Universal Service Administrator by ) ) St. Gabriel School ) File No. SLD-14634 Milford, Connecticut ) ) Federal-State Joint Board on ) CC Docket No. 96-45 Universal Service ) ) Changes to the Board of Directors of the ) CC Docket No. 97-21 National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc. ) ORDER Adopted: October 15, 1999 Released: October 15, 1999 By the Common Carrier Bureau: 1. The Common Carrier Bureau has under consideration a Letter of Appeal filed by St. Gabriel School, Milford, Connecticut on May 19, 1999, seeking review of a decision issued by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC or Administrator). St. Gabriel seeks review of the SLD's denial of its application for discounted services under the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism. For the reasons set forth below, we deny the Letter of Appeal and affirm the SLD's denial of St. Gabriel's application. 2. Under the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism, eligible schools, libraries, and consortia that include eligible schools and libraries, may apply for discounts for eligible telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections. The Commission's rules provide that, with one limited exception for existing, binding contracts, an eligible school, library or consortium must seek competitive bids for all services eligible for support. In accordance with the Commission's rules, the SLD posts an applicant's FCC Form 470 specifying requested services on its web page for 28 days prior to the applicant's signing a contract for eligible services and submitting FCC Form 471. 3. Based on St. Gabriel's FCC Form 471, the SLD determined that St. Gabriel did not have pre-existing contracts that would have exempted it from the competitive bid requirement, but rather had ordered services pursuant to tariffs. Accordingly, by letter dated November 20, 1998, the SLD denied St. Gabriel's request for discounts for tariffed telecommunications services on the ground that St. Gabriel's FCC Form 470 was not posted on SLD's website for 28 days, in violation of the Commission's competitive bid requirement. St. Gabriel appealed the SLD's decision, claiming that its services were existing services that were not subject to competitive bidding and that SLD advised it to fill out its application as it did. 4. On April 21, 1999, the SLD affirmed its initial funding decision and denied St. Gabriel's appeal. The SLD explained that St. Gabriel's request for tariffed telecommunications services was not posted on the web site for 28 days because St. Gabriel had checked Item 10 in Block 3 on FCC Form 470, which directs the applicant to check the box if the applicant has an existing, binding contract. The SLD further explained that tariffed telecommunications services are required to be posted to the SLD website for 28 days (per FCC Form 470 Instructions) in order for there to be an opportunity for service providers to bid on these services, and that the only exemption from the Commission's competitive bid requirement is for services that were the subject of an existing contract prior to January 30, 1998. 5. In St. Gabriel's request for review of the SLD decision that is now before us, St. Gabriel claims that its funding requests were for services that "existed" at the time, and that the written instructions for completion of the forms were in conflict with the actual requirements. It claims that it received instructions and assurances from the SLD staff that its forms were correctly completed. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the SLD properly denied St. Gabriel's application for discounts for tariffed telecommunications services. 6. Having reviewed St. Gabriel's FCC Form 470 and FCC Form 471, we have confirmed that St. Gabriel's FCC Form 471 indicates in Item 16 that it would receive the telecommunications services for which it sought universal service support pursuant to a tariff, not an existing contract. We also have confirmed that St. Gabriel nevertheless did check Item 10 in Block 3 of FCC Form 470 indicating that it had "pre-existing contracts," and therefore, consistent with the Commission's rules, the SLD did not post St. Gabriel's FCC Form 470 on its website. Because St. Gabriel indicated that service would be received pursuant to "pre-existing contracts" by checking Item 10 in Block 3, the lack of posting and competitive bidding was due to St. Gabriel's own error and thus disqualified it from receiving approval. 7. While it is unfortunate that St. Gabriel understood the SLD staff to provide verbal assurances that its FCC Form 470 was "correct for its services," this is not a basis for us to grant relief that would be contrary to our rules. Both the separate written instructions for Item (10) and bold face words of instruction on Item (10) of the FCC Form 470 itself clearly state that the box should be checked only if the applicant seeks discounts for eligible services based on one or more "existing, binding contract(s)." 7. Only applicants with existing contracts, as defined in section 54.511(c) of the Commission's rules, are exempt from the Commission's competitive bid requirement. Because tariffs do not constitute "pre-existing contracts," and St. Gabriel has provided no evidence of any pre-existing contract, we find that the SLD properly denied St. Gabriel's funding request for failure to comply with the 28-day competitive bid requirement. 8. ACCORDINGLY, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to authority delegated under sections 0.91, 0.291, and 54.722(a) of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.91. 0.291, and 54.722(a), that the appeal filed by St. Gabriel School, Milford, Connecticut on May 19, 1999 IS DENIED. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Lisa M. Zaina Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau