FCC's O'Rielly Asks Arizona School District About Potential Duplication
An Arizona municipality apparently seeks U.S. funding for facilities served now by local ISPs. FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly asked Cochise County Schools Superintendent Jacqui Clay for answers by Sept. 21, copying Universal Service Administrative Co. CEO Radha Sekar. The county’s…
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Education and Technology Consortium issued a request for proposals last August, under the FCC E-rate program, to build a wide area network to deliver fiber-based broadband to all the locality's schools and libraries, O'Rielly wrote Monday, in a letter released Tuesday. The consortium now seeks funding for new fiber buildouts to the county’s 46 school and library locations, "even though most of these schools and libraries already have a fiber-based" connection, he added. The RFP also sought bids for eight county government locations ineligible for E-rate, he said. The consortium apparently seeks "an astronomical level of funding for fiber construction to the private residence of the Cochise Technology District Superintendent," he wrote: The contract for $29 million of public funding "appears to lead to wasteful and duplicative" spending. After bids from two national providers, the consortium gave the contract to "a provider with barely any facilities in the area and will need to either overbuild existing fiber networks or lease capacity from incumbent providers," O'Rielly wrote. The companies weren't identified, and O'Rielly's office didn't ID them upon our request. Clay's deputy and USAC didn't comment.