More than $15 million in federal funding for Arkansas is on hold because a Fortune 500 telecommunications company has declined, thus far, to submit paperwork.
CenturyLink officials are questioning whether Arkansas’ procurement process for school broadband upgrades complied with federal rules.
Jeff Jones, CenturyLink’s manager of market development, said the company has requested additional information from the Federal Communications Commission and wants to ensure compliance with the federal E-rate program, which funds Internet services at schools and libraries.
“We understand everyone’s frustration about delay, but service providers and applicants alike must comply with the E-rate rules as well as state procurement law requirements,” he said. “We remain committed to this procurement and look forward to working with [the Department of Information Systems] to make this happen.”
The Monroe, La.-based company has not submitted a transition plan to the Arkansas Department of Information Systems detailing how it will move school districts it services from older copper connections to the upgraded Arkansas Public School Computer Network.
Without the CenturyLink plan, Mark Myers, director of the Department of Information Systems, said he cannot submit a state transition plan to the Federal Communications Commission.
“Until we deliver that plan, not only is the state of Arkansas and DIS not going to get their funding commitments, but no school district will get their funding commitments,” Myers said at an Advanced Communications and Information Technology joint committee meeting at the Arkansas Capitol on Monday.
CenturyLink is one of 16 companies connecting school districts to the improved Arkansas Public School Computer Network. The company is connecting 31 school districts around the state to the new school broadband network at a cost of $4.65 million.
The companies will convert the Arkansas Public School Computer Network from copper wire to highspeed, fiber-optic cable, which will transmit information via pulses of light rather than electricity. The work will connect school districts to central high-speed Internet hubs.
Connecting 274 Arkansas school districts will cost about $49 million, much of which will be paid through the E-rate program. (Two other districts have not received bids.)
Jones said as soon as the federal government OKs the bidding process, CenturyLink will move forward.
“We want to follow the state’s requirements and we want to follow the E-rate requirements,” he said. “We’re just being very judicious about following the rules.”
After the committee meeting, Myers said the FCC believes the bidding process was compliant with E-rate regulations.
“[CenturyLink] wants to make sure the second round of bids is clean. The FCC has already told them, now they want it in writing,” he said. “I suspect we’re just a few weeks away from resolving this issue.”
E-rate funding has been delayed to Arkansas in the past because of noncompliance.
The state is using $6 million that has been delayed up to 3 years to double the speed of the Arkansas Public School Computer Network from 100 kilobits per second per user to 200 kbps per user.
Myers said the E-rate reimbursements had been delayed because the federal government required state broadband contracts to match the start and end dates of the federal fiscal year, forcing the state to request a waiver. The federal government also objected to a district receiving Internet services from multiple sources simultaneously; In many districts, schools receive Internet access from both a private company and the Arkansas Public School Computer Network.
Myers said Monday that the state has waivers now for those existing problems, and they will be eliminated when the Arkansas Public School Computer Network is fully upgraded.
Myers said the Fort Smith School District will be the first to see increased speeds. Despite the funding delay, the district is set to be connected Wednesday.
“Internet connectivity is the backbone of business. It’s becoming the backbone of society,” he said. “It’s about how we as a people interact with one another.”