Somerset County C1 Deal Island FY2026

Clarifying Questions and Communications All vendor communications regarding this Form 470 must be in writing. No phone calls, text messages, or in-person inquiries will be accepted. For documentation purposes, all questions must be emailed to the Technical Contact listed on this form and Erin@eratecomplete.com.
Bid Submission Quotes must be submitted via email no later than 9:00 a.m. local time on the Allowable Contract Date (ACD) of this Form 470 to Bids2026@eratecomplete.com. Email Subject Line: Bid 2026 Somerset County The Allowable Contract Date can be determined in the EPC portal and via the Form 470 Search Tool. The applicant reserves the right to reject late or incomplete bids.
Service Specifications All bandwidths listed are estimates of need. The district is considering multiple options to bring broadband to the sites included. Bidders may bid one or both options. Internet Service: Seeking bids on a minimum of 300/25 Mbps or best available transport/Internet bundled service with Qty 1 Static IP. If bidding a non-fiber solution, please indicate the technology type (e.g., copper, microwave, etc.). Service is to be delivered to the following location: 1. Deal Island Elementary School: 23275 Lola Wheatley Rd, Deal Island, MD 21821
Please provide pricing for bandwidth tiers from 300 Mbps to 1 Gbps at 100 Mbps increments (or any other service levels you offer within that range). The resulting contract should include pricing for each tier and any intermediate options, so the applicant may increase bandwidth during the contract term without re-bidding, if permitted under E-Rate rules.
Bid Evaluation and General Conditions Spam, robotic, generic, or encyclopedic responses will not be considered legitimate bid inquiries or proposals and will be disqualified. Proposals must separately itemize the cost of E-rate eligible and ineligible services and clearly indicate whether the service includes basic firewall service and/or any non-recurring costs or special construction fees. All taxes/surcharges and installation charges must be clearly identified in the bid response. The price of the E-rate eligible requests will be the primary factor in evaluating bids and will receive the highest weight in the evaluation process. Other evaluation factors may include, but are not limited to, prior experience with the district, references, service quality and SLAs, local presence (within 150 miles), implementation timeline, and completeness and responsiveness of the proposal.
Discounted Billing Requirements Bidders must be willing to provide E-rate discounted billing (Form 474/SPI invoicing) if requested by the applicant. Vendors must be willing to certify their SPIN via Form 473 (SPAC) for the related funding year.
Scalability and Contract Flexibility Flexibility for increases in bandwidth and for adding new sites throughout the duration of the contract, due to growth and changing district needs, is desired. Contracts must be inclusive of these differing levels of service and the associated pricing. In the event of a price decrease for service at the time of a contract amendment, the district expects the decreased pricing to be passed on to them. Any bandwidth increase would be implemented via written service order/change request under the awarded contract and will not extend the contract term.
Term and Service Start Date The district will consider term options of 1-year, 3-year, and/or 5-year agreements. Contracts with voluntary extensions will also be considered but may not continue in perpetuity. The service start date will be July 1, 2026. Bidders must confirm they can meet the July 1, 2026 service start date.
Contingency on E-rate funding Any contract resulting from this Form 470/RFP may be contingent upon the districts receipt of E-rate funding and local board approval. The applicant reserves the right to cancel some or all services if E-rate funding is denied, reduced, or delayed, or if local funding is not approved.
Requested services (1 line item): - Category 1 — Data Transmission And/Or Internet Access — Internet Access And Data Transmission Service
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.
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/Form470/260017839/126418/21030942-USAC_FCC_FORM_470_APPLICATION_260017839_CERTIFIED.pdf