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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       )
                                    ) 
Simpson County Vocational-Technical School        )         File No. 78968
Mendenhall, MS                       )
                                     )
Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service         )         CC Docket No. 96-45
                                     )
Changes to the Board of Directors      )          CC Docket No. 97-21
Of the National Exchange Carrier        )
Association, Inc.                        )


                             ORDER

Adopted: December 14, 1999              Released:  December 14, 1999

By the Common Carrier Bureau:

          1.   The Common Carrier Bureau has under consideration an appeal filed by Simpson County
          Vocational-Technical School (Simpson County) on June 29, 1999, seeking review of a
          decision issued by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service
          Administrative Company (USAC or Administrator).  Simpson County seeks review of
          SLD's denial of its application for additional funding requests under the schools and
          libraries universal support mechanism.  For the reasons set forth below, we grant Simpson
          County's Letter of Appeal to the extent provided below.
          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, an eligible school,
          library or consortium must seek competitive bids for all services eligible for
          support.
          3.   To comply with this competitive bid requirement, the Commission's rules require
          that an applicant submit to the Administrator a completed FCC Form 470, in which
          the applicant lists the services for which it seeks discounts.  The Administrator
          must post the FCC Form 470 on its web site and the applicant is required to wait
          28 days before making a commitment with a selected service provider.  After the
          FCC Form 470 has been posted for 28 days, and the applicant has selected a
          service provider, the applicant must submit to the Administrator an FCC Form
          471, which lists the services that have been ordered.
          4.   On November 5, 1998 and June 16, 1999, SLD informed Simpson County that its
          funding request for various telecommunications services was rejected because the
          request was for services that were required to be posted, but that were not posted
          to the SLD web site.  Simpson County appealed SLD's decision to the
          Commission, requesting that the Commission reconsider SLD's decision. 
          5.   We have reviewed Simpson County's application and SLD's records relating to
          this application.  SLD's records reveal that, in fact, Simpson County's FCC Form
          470 was posted to the SLD web site.  Apparently, SLD's statement that these
          services were not posted to the web site was an inadvertent error.  We, therefore,
          remand Simpson County's application to SLD and direct SLD to reprocess this
          application and issue a new Funding Commitment Letter based on the facts in the
          record and any further consultations with the applicant that may be necessary.
          6.   To the extent necessary to effectuate the decision above, we grant a waiver of
          section 54.507(b) of the Commission's rules.  This rule provides that schools and
          libraries may receive discounts on nonrecurring services only through September
          30, 1999.
          7.   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 Simpson County School District,
          Mendenhall, Mississippi, filed June 29, 1999, IS GRANTED to the extent provided
          herein, and that Simpson County's application IS REMANDED to SLD for further
          consideration in light of this decision. 



          8.   IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that section 54.507(b)(2), 47 C.F.R.  54.507(b)(2),
          IS WAIVED for a period of up to 180 days following the date of issuance of a
          Funding Commitment Letter by the Administrator pursuant to this order.
               
                              FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
                              COMMISSION
                              
                              
                              
                              Yog R. Varma
                              Deputy  Chief, Common Carrier Bureau