Dowling C2 Firewall FY2026

No phone calls or texts. For documentation purposes all communication is required to be via email.
The applicant is not entertaining product demos.
Interested bidders must review the RFP document attached here for the full scope of the project and bid submission guidelines and timelines. If clarifying questions are received, and RFP Q & A addendum will be posted and may extend the bid due date.
Inquiries asking the applicant to consider purchasing other services or components that are not included on the Form 470 will not be considered legitimate inquiries or proposals. Questions that seek information readily available on the Form 470 or RFP will not be answered.
Spam, robotic, generic and encyclopedic responses will not be considered legitimate bid inquiries or proposals and will be disqualified.
Discounted Billing: Bidders must be willing to provide E-Rate discounted billing (form 474/SPI invoicing) if requested by the applicant.
Requested services (4 line items): - Category 2 — Internal Connections — Antennas, Connectors, And Related Components - Category 2 — Internal Connections — Firewall Service, Components, And Necessary Software And Licenses
State/local procurement requirements: Please include SPIN in bid. No phone calls or texts. Bidders must be willing to provide E-Rate discounted billing (form 474/SPI invoicing) if requested by the applicant.
RFP: Interested bidders must review the RFP document attached here for the full scope of the project and bid submission guidelines and timelines.
Applicant reserves the right to reject late submitted bids.
Bid evaluations may include points for vendors with a local presence or office within 150 miles. Spam, robotic, encyclopedic and generic bid responses will not be considered legitimate bid inquiries or proposals and will be disqualified.
Inquiries asking the applicant to consider purchasing other services that are not included on the Form 470 will not be considered legitimate inquiries or proposals. Questions that seek information readily available on the Form 470 will not be answered.
For contract services, the successful bidder(s) must be willing to sign and date contracts after the Allowable Contract Date of this Form 470 and prior to the submission of the Form 471 for service to commence on July 1, 2026 for Category 1 services or installation as early as April 1, 2026 for Category 2 components, signed as soon as possible after the winning bid is chosen. Contracts must include an e-rate contingency clause if requested by the applicant. All requests are contingent upon funding by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Services Administrative Company (USAC) unless otherwise agreed upon by applicant. Will consider multi-year contracts and/or contracts with voluntary extensions and/or amendments. Proposals should separately itemize the cost of E-rate eligible and ineligible services.
Bidder acknowledges their equipment and services are compliant with FCC's recent Order (FCC 19-121) prohibiting the sale, provision, maintenance, modification, or other support of equipment or services provided or manufactured by Huawei, ZTE or any other "covered company" deemed a national security threat. Vender must be an authorized E-rate partner of the manufacturer or will agree that no grey market products will be accepted as part of the procurement.
Any pricing proposed must comply with the FCC Lowest Corresponding Price Rule as required by the Universal Service First Report and Order, and restated in the FCC E-Rate Modernization Report and Order, adopted July 11, 2014.
The FCC Lowest Corresponding Price rule prohibits an E-rate services offeror from offering or charging E-rate applicants a price higher than the lowest price the offeror charges to non-residential customers who are similarly situated to a particular school, library, rural health care provider or consortium that purchase directly from the offeror.
Service providers are reminded of the E-Rate gift restrictions in 47 CFR 54.503(d).
Reference documents (Form 470 / RFP): https://publicdata.usac.org/EPC/Prd/Form470/260024169/17047304/21337510-USAC_FCC_FORM_470_APPLICATION_260024169_CERTIFIED.pdf, https://publicdata.usac.org/EPC/Prd/Form470/260024169/17047304/21337495-Addendum%20%20Q%20and%20A.pdf, https://publicdata.usac.org/EPC/Prd/Form470/260024169/17047304/21268461-FY2026%20RFP%20Category%202%20Firewalls%20Dowling.pdf