2023 Oklahoma Statutes › Title 17. Corporation Commission › §17-139.109.1. Special Universal Services – Eligibility – Competitive bidding - Funding.

A. The following services are hereby declared to be Special Universal Services:
1. Each eligible healthcare entity in this state as defined in Section 139.102 of Title 17 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be eligible to receive Special Universal Services for telemedicine providers. Special Universal Services for telemedicine providers shall include the provision of bandwidth per standards as recommended by the Federal Communications Commission sufficient for providing telemedicine services including the telemedicine line, reasonable installation and network termination equipment owned and operated by the eligible provider that is necessary to provide the eligible telemedicine service;
2. Each public school as defined in Section 139.102 of Title 17 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be eligible to receive Special Universal Services for schools. Special Universal Services for schools shall include the E-rate Eligible Services List (ESL) for Category One services as determined by the FCC for the applicable funding year or, in the absence of such a list, as published by the Universal Services Administrative Company. In the event no ESL is available from the FCC or USAC for the applicable funding year, eligible services will be those on the ESL for the last funding year for which an ESL was available. Special Universal Services shall include the provision of bandwidth sufficient for providing educational services not to exceed, without good cause shown, the standards established for the relevant funding year by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) or successor educational broadband standard including Internet access lines, WAN connections, reasonable installation, and network termination equipment owned and operated by the eligible provider as defined by the ESL that is necessary to provide the eligible service. Student counts as reported to the State Department of Education in October of the year prior to the relevant funding year shall be utilized for the purpose of determining bandwidth recommendations established by SETDA for purposes of this paragraph. In the absence of standards prescribed for the applicable funding year, the standards for the next prescribed funding year shall be used. Special Universal Services shall not include voice services that use separate lines or have allocated bandwidth. The Commission may modify the service considered to be Special Universal Services pursuant to rule, after notice and hearing; and
3. Each public library as defined in Section 139.102 of Title 17 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be eligible to receive Special Universal Services for libraries. Special Universal Services for libraries shall include the E-rate Eligible Services List ("ESL") for Category One services as determined by the Federal Communications Commission for the applicable funding year or, in the absence of such a list, as published by the Universal Services Administrative Company. In the event no ESL is available from the FCC or USAC for the applicable funding year, eligible services will be those on the ESL for the last funding year for which an ESL was available. Special Universal Services shall include the provision of bandwidth sufficient for providing library services per standards as recommended by the Federal Communications Commission including Internet access lines, reasonable installation and network termination equipment owned and operated by the eligible provider that is necessary to provide the eligible service. Special Universal Services shall not include voice services that use separate lines or have allocated bandwidth. The Commission may modify the services considered to be Special Universal Services pursuant to rule, after notice and hearing.
B. 1. Eligible services that are exempt from competitive bidding pursuant to state law or the rules of the Federal Universal Service Support Mechanisms or successor program or programs shall be exempt from the Special Universal Services competitive bidding requirements set forth in this subsection, and the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary must provide evidence of such exemption as part of the funding request.
2. An OUSF Beneficiary may be eligible to receive funding from both the OUSF and other state or federal funds; however, in no instance shall there be a double recovery. The OUSF Beneficiary shall make every reasonable effort to obtain funding from another state and/or federal fund designed to support Special Universal Services. The OUSF Beneficiary shall provide the OUSF Administrator with information regarding the recipient's request for funding from government sources designed to support the provisioning of Special Universal Services, or an explanation of why such funding is not available or why the recipient of the Special Universal Services did not request such funding. Failure to provide such documentation may result in the OUSF Administrator denying in whole or in part, a request for Special Universal Services funding from the OUSF. If an OUSF Beneficiary is not eligible to receive funding from other state or federal funds per the program rules of the other state or federal funds, the OUSF Beneficiary shall be exempt from the requirement to obtain funding from another state and/or federal fund designed to support Special Universal Services set forth in this subsection. The OUSF Beneficiary must provide evidence of such exemption as part of the funding request.
3. The credit amount for the provision of Special Universal Services as provided for in subsection A of this section shall be determined as provided for in this subsection.
4. An eligible provider shall be entitled to reimbursement from the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund (OUSF) for providing Special Universal Services as described in subsection A of this section. In no case shall the reimbursement from the OUSF be made for an Internet subscriber fee or charges incurred as a result of services accessed via the Internet.
5. Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiaries shall conduct a fair and open competitive bidding process to select the services and carrier eligible for support. The competitive bidding process shall meet the following standards:
a.
the solicitation of bids shall clearly identify the bandwidth range requested by the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary or consortium,
b.
the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary shall not limit bidders based upon technology,
c.
the bidding shall be open to all carriers authorized to receive OUSF funding in the telephone exchange where the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary is located or where the members of the consortium are located, and
d.
the bidding shall not be structured in a manner to exclude carriers eligible to receive OUSF funding in the telephone exchange where the Oklahoma Universal Services Fund Beneficiary is located.
6. For Special Universal Services that are competitively bid in compliance with this act, the credit amount shall be not more than twenty-five percent (25%) greater than the lowest cost reasonable qualifying bid of the total prediscount amount of eligible services plus installation charges, less federal funding support for the same services including installation charges issued in a funding commitment letter or similar approval document for the Federal Universal Service Support Mechanism or successor program or programs for the applicable funding year.
7. For purposes of this act, "lowest cost reasonable qualifying bid" means a bid that:
a.
represents the lowest total cost proposal including monthly recurring and nonrecurring charges for eligible services,
b.
is reasonable to meet the needs of the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary as listed in the request for bids,
c.
is submitted during the same competitive bidding period as the awarded bid,
d.
is for a bandwidth within the range requested for bid and selected by the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary,
e.
is for the same contract term as the bid that was selected by the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary,
f.
meets the requirements specified in the request for bid by the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary, and
g.
was the result of a fair and open competitive bidding process as defined in this act.
8. If a long-term contract includes change clauses for changes in sites or services, the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary shall not be required to conduct a new competitive bid during the life of the original contract, which may not exceed five (5) years.
9. For eligible services associated with an Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary that does not competitively bid in compliance with this act, the credit amount shall be determined at the discretion of the Administrator.
C. 1. Special Universal Services shall not be sold, resold or transferred in consideration for money or any other thing of value.
2. The OUSF shall not fund more than one eligible provider for the same service at the same location for the same time period, except during a transition period from one eligible provider to another. Funding during a transition period shall not exceed thirty (30) days.
D. The Administrator shall have the authority to investigate each request for OUSF funding for Special Universal Services in order to ensure that the OUSF pays only for the Special Universal Services authorized in this section. The Administrator shall deny requests for OUSF funding in excess of the credit amounts authorized in subsection B of this section unless good cause is shown.
E. The Corporation Commission shall have authority to investigate and modify or reject in whole or part a Special Universal Service request under subsection A of this section if the request does not meet the specified criteria, if the Corporation Commission's investigation determines that the entity has not provided sufficient documentation for the requested services, or if the Corporation Commission determines that granting the request is not in the public interest due to fraud.
F. 1. The Special Universal Services preapproval and reimbursement procedures as set forth in this subsection shall be effective and shall apply for each applicable funding year beginning July 1, 2017.
2. The Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary administrative preapproval submission process shall be as follows:
a.
the Administrator shall establish an administrative approval process to be initiated by the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary in a timely fashion for the purpose of determining eligible services and credit amounts for the upcoming funding year. The administrative preapproval submission process shall include all necessary forms and instructions, hereinafter referred to as the "OUSF administrative preapproval request". The Administrator shall determine the form for the OUSF administrative preapproval requests. The form shall be posted on the Commission website no later than June 30 of each year to become effective for any OUSF administrative preapproval requests submitted after August 31 of that year. Any party may file an objection to the form with the Commission within fifteen (15) days of posting. The Commission shall issue a final order on the objection to the form within thirty (30) days,
b.
the Administrator shall issue an approval funding letter to the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary and the eligible provider within ninety (90) days of receipt of a properly completed OUSF administrative preapproval request. Failure by the Administrator to issue an approval funding letter within the ninety-day period means the OUSF administrative preapproval request submitted by the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary is approved as submitted and the subsequent request for reimbursement submitted by the eligible provider which is consistent with the information submitted in the OUSF administrative preapproval request shall be approved as submitted,
c.
the approval funding letter shall inform the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary of the preapproved services and associated credit amount for the applicable funding year. The amount of OUSF funding preapproved under this subsection may be subject to adjustments based on the amount of support received from other sources, if any, and adjustments to pricing that may occur between the time of preapproval and installation of service,
d.
any OUSF administrative preapproval request shall be submitted to the Administrator in the format outlined in instructions posted on the Commission website. The OUSF administrative preapproval request shall include but not be limited to the following:
(1)
a Special Universal Services request form as posted on the Commission website no later than June 30 of each year for requests made after August 31 of that year,
(2)
a Federal Universal Service Support Mechanism or successor program or programs form used to request federal funding support for the applicable funding year,
(3)
a federal funding commitment letter for the applicable funding year, if issued, and
(4)
competitive bidding documentation for the relevant funding year,
e.
issuance of an OUSF approval funding letter by the Administrator shall occur without a Commission order,
f.
OUSF administrative preapproval requests not submitted by June 30 prior to the applicable funding year shall be processed by the Administrator on a first-in-first-out basis, and
g.
after a preapproval funding letter has been issued, an OUSF Beneficiary may submit a new administrative preapproval request to provide corrections or additional information per program rules issued by the Commission.
3. The eligible provider reimbursement process shall be as follows:
a.
requests for reimbursement shall be submitted per procedures as set forth in subsection D of Section 139.106 of Title 17 of the Oklahoma Statutes,
b.
the Administrator shall post the monthly payout report to the Commission website,
c.
funding for eligible services, including federal funding, shall not exceed actual eligible expenses,
d.
any change in cost of eligible services during the funding year shall be reported by the eligible provider to the OUSF and:
(1)
all decreases in cost shall be deemed approved until the next eligible bidding period and all cost savings shall be properly allocated to the OUSF and the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund Beneficiary, and
(2)
increases in cost shall be reviewed for approval as provided for in Commission rules, and
e.
issuance of a determination by the Administrator shall not require a Commission order.
Added by Laws 2016, c. 270, § 6, emerg. eff. May 9, 2016.