Yeah, and our recording has started. You want to go ahead Holly and welcome people to day two whatever Well, we all three can do some welcoming here. We really appreciate you coming back And I think all three of us have heard from a few of you with some questions Which is pretty exciting too to see that you know, you there truly is some interest in and our topic and Trying to figure things out. I I guess I would first like to ask if there's anybody who maybe has a question that they'd like to offer up about Monday session workshop if you would go ahead and either type it in or or go ahead and speak And let us know we'll give you a few minutes for that and then if not, we'll move on and start the show Yeah Everyone you are as I said before you're all unmuted feel free to unmute and chime in with anything You may be thought about since Monday questions that came up Anything you are confused about anything you wanted to know a little more about We can expand on anything we are not limited to just what we're talking about today today Ideally between these two days we want to get you all the information you need and get all your questions answered that we possibly can't right now To get you started. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not seeing anything. Nobody's attempting to unmute themselves So I think we are probably good. Just go ahead if you have any questions type them in unmute interrupt as you feel the need and We'll be happy to do that All right, so I just should we just jump on to the first thing. Well, okay, second thing on our agenda Yeah, actually, I think you have to go through two. I've got one too many in there But so yep, and we'll start just by saying today. We're going to be talking about e-rate category two because it it has a important function and relationship with your special construction category one The fact that many libraries we've discovered are working with older equipment that Won't enable that high speed that comes in with the fiber in your library to actually Be allowed for connectivity of that speed throughout your library. So This is one of the things we're going to be talking about today Also as promised, we have another library director from and she's Becky Hinkle from Barrett Public Library who is also a person who was brave Brave and the library was recipient for fiber and We're going to go over online just kind of run through a Word document which is the RFP that the libraries used last year to submit their special construction category one 470 form and Krista will go over through slides kind of a step-by-step for through the EPC using EPC What you need to do to submit your 470, which is the first step Really besides the gathering that you're going to do it. I think you're probably seeing that from our Workshop on Monday and the today things that you need to gather up or think about ahead of time But the actual submission that would be something that she'll be helping you with and then we'll visit a little bit about last year's Recipients all of them. There were some questions. I've received about well, how much is this going to cost? Well, unfortunately Looking at the news that is on the slide It's all over the place and there are a lot of variables that as far as the construction that can Make a difference in pricing so but we'll talk about that also and then Tom and Krista are going to highlight Not only you know, we were talking about special construction And we think this is a great deal for fiber to the library But we know that there's a lot of other opportunities for funding for things and we're just going to highlight some of that At the end and then of course questions and answers. So we're going to move forward and talk about Network infrastructure assessment for fiber upgrade. So first before you can Probably submit a form 470 for category 2 for Equipment or services you need to find out where your library is situated now some of you May have a good idea and keep good paperwork on that know how old your Equipment is etc. But for many it's a closet that you don't like to go visit and that's okay You have somebody hired perhaps or volunteers to take care of that But it'll be very important for you for Making a decision to move to fiber to do an assessment of your network equipment and move forward Next slide So this is basically just copied right out of the off the website just to give you the the full Amount of information related to what is category 2 so it's the internal connections needed for managed broadband connectivity within your library So that would be from where the fiber comes in From the outside is is located on the outside and then it enters into your library and and wherever it needs to go And you know it used to just be well We've got desktops that we need to service with as well now you also have Wi-Fi and access points and Smart TVs and smartphones that are in your library. So This is managing whatever types of devices that you may need to upgrade and in particular one that we've been talking about a lot is you may Have a firewall in your library now with a more like a home-based Wi-Fi router and We're really recommending this is one thing I would strongly recommend and I think Tom would too because the schools use it is that You have a separate device now that would be a firewall that would help to manage any type of Bad activity or anything that comes into your library So this would might be a new device for you Along with the devices and the devices will be listed later that are actually in the PowerPoint I'll list them and talk a little bit about them that qualify for e-rate category 2 funding Along with that I believe that you know obviously usack is understanding that you need somebody a professional potentially to come in and take care of getting you set up to use you know to Install and initialize and configure your equipment and so with that there are services that are also enabled to be supported through funding and you can see that in the second part of the paragraph and On top of that you are also able to Have a managed internal broadband service So somebody is keeping track of this externally and they're watching and seeing and they're managing Your throughput and how healthy your network is in the library and that is also something that can be Put into a category 2 funding opportunity and leasing equipment and then also the The Maintenance or Whatever might need to be done with that least equipment within the library so Basically, it's devices network devices and services that include installation service and leasing of other equipment and And also just to be clear because you said the word devices and I know there's lots of other funding and that we'll talk about later that talks About covering devices as far as the computers laptops Chromebooks whatever themselves those are not part they're eligible for e-rate discounts They're kind of an end user device as opposed to I would you know refer to your ride Krista as a network device E-rate is specifically for what makes the internet work in your building not the device of the internet not the device that uses the internet But there's other funding that's available to cover those if you need to update any of that And also engine to wall you know Holly mentioned This is copy of a lot of a lot of text here on these a lot of these slides But just like on Monday if you remember we will send you this powerpoint presentation Afterwards so don't try and scribble and write down everything we have on here You're gonna have copies of this for yourself So you know listen take some notes about specific highlighting of things if you want to but you don't have to try and write all this down We're gonna send all of this to you afterwards Next So What can I do for my library? What can category two e-rate do for my library? Well, we have started this this year this physical year for e-rate of 2021 through 25. It's a five-year period of Basically, I'm not sure if they even change the eligibility list, you know if they do that within that period or is it pretty solid? Yes Services list is updated every year. I couldn't by the way when we're looking at everything today I couldn't find anything yet for Next year or the fiscal year 2022 so For that even though they form is it's officially opened July 1st to start but It's typically the eligible services list, which is the official list of everything from the FCC that you can actually apply for if Anything gets changed usually isn't finalized until like October November Which is why I look at the list Yeah, you'll need to know that it's a 20 the this this current year's list And so you'll want to make sure that you have the correct list Well, it's pretty exciting actually what they've done for this five years. Um, they used to The previous five years well one year in between transition and previous five years. They use the square footage of the library Multiplied by a certain Amount number and to determine what kind of funding you could have On an annual basis, of course, it would be updated if you upgraded your library, etc But so now they've made a decision and this is a pretty big number in my opinion $25,000 For a five-year period so that would be for you if you were submitting a e-rate category to request you would be looking at it and saying that if you're at 80% discount for e-rate that 80% would be coming out of that $25,000 and then you would be responsible for the remaining 20% so in a rural library and from my experience in the last 10 years That almost would be a challenge to be able to spend all that money. So I think you have ample money when you're considering what it is you might need to do after your assessment with your equipment to Move into a fiber environment And it says here. This was just something I pulled off of a fact sheet But basically any library is that's greater than the five five hundred and fifty five thousand five hundred fifty five square feet You might then you would consider actually using the formula of Multiplying your square footage by the four dollar and fifty cent amount because you would probably you would be receiving more Money that way. So you do have a choice. So a larger library Obviously would want to look toward that type of equation to determine what their budgets will be for the five years I looked at what I thought was number of the five five five five is just that's just how the math works Yeah, it is actually the the cap the budget is for fifty four dollars fifty cents per square foot of the library building And that just happens to come out to an even well about twenty five thousand at five five five right, right, right I think that is that number Yes, and so When I checked to see the participants in the workshop There was no library that was you know, you don't have any better than that Might be in your dreams, but but I wanted to be sure so so basically Everybody who's in the workshop today. You're at a twenty five thousand dollar Amount budgeted for five years beginning this last year that doesn't Penalize you if you didn't spend anything last year or if you wait until the last year I think that it is adjusted for What's the word inflation on an annual basis to that number? So it will be adjusted. It's just not a flat amount So I encourage you to be paying attention and thinking about this whether you're doing fiber or not This is a wonderful way to keep your library Current and at the best speed because many libraries in Nebraska or at least it They're up to 50 megabits and using DSL but But they would be able to Probably enhance their throughput in the library if they were to consider changing out some old equipment Sure Peggy, yes, you've got your hand up. You have a question. I do have a question So is that like usable space in the library or does that include like our storage areas and things like that? It is all of the everything within the wall of the library walls Okay, just look at the library where your walls are how many floors you have Do the math you might have Paperwork or blueprints somewhere that tell you this. Yeah, the building. Yeah, okay. Okay. Thank you And we have itself reported in our omnibase from you all too So, I think it's something you do on the public library surveys, right? So that would be a number to use. Yeah, what I was going to share the management of internal broadband services where You turn the device and its care into a negotiated service is a relatively foreign concept for Nebraska so school districts are prone to buying the actual firewall and then the minimal Maintenance and upgrades on that device over five years where they do it out of pocket and then they configure and manage their Internal wireless access points with these kind of budget numbers It really puts the library in a position to say I don't want to do that I could hire that out as long as I can afford the post discount portion of That service on a monthly basis, but now your number is high enough that you're going to start to attract the attention of A small IT support firm that may work in your county Your municipality or within driving distance and then they can see and manage Most of your devices remotely so they don't have to travel necessarily and that may be attractive to them, but I'm just saying You're in that sweet spot to be able to possibly afford the management and then not have to ask high school student or Spouse or cousin or whatever do this and that's that's pretty novel and I think sometimes from my experience Decade ago working with the BTOP grant. I would find a Haggard IT tech support School people and ESU people in the library of working on a problem or doing something and so it would be nice It would maybe infuse into your community some money to to actually Create a local business, you never know they have to have a spin number right so they have to be a Recognized service provider to get the rate funding on there, but that's not Thank You Tom So You know as you can see the next bowl is basically just a we had a kind of we set out a report Or a survey last Your small group of libraries, but enough to see that just to find out what type of network infrastructure Equipment where you were and the purchasing of that and I'm I'm just gonna have to say I think some of the libraries were fudging a bit because I know that some of them are still working with the same equipment That came out with a large last large infusion of the equipment with the BTOP grant Which I think is now we're at 10 years at least and there's some are using the routers the The end version of the router which is way way overdue for a replacement. So one other interjection Sure, you don't need to interject. Okay It's a conversation. So in the world of DSL If that's your internet service today, which would be you know under 50 megabits, let's say You are of no use to a foreign nefarious actor for taking over your library network your devices. Yes, they could penetrate that But your bandwidth isn't of any use to to them They want a full fiber connection like a school district a large business or whatever So and this is in no way meaning to scare you But it is meaning to say don't shortchange the sophistication of your edge device on your network when you get fiber because all of a sudden they'll say Lead Randall Public Library didn't exist before but now all of a sudden I see it as a potential target So that's where the firewall comes in network security and you'll be just fine But you don't want to go into it saying I'm gonna buy Or repurpose my five-year-old net netgear router, whatever that simply won't be sufficient if that makes sense and just to highlight for the the libraries that There were six libraries that use special construction fund last year and out of those six four of them either had already been working with Category two funding as Cheryl said from Clay Center to prepare themselves for fiber or this last year with the the Filing and receive receiving the special construction. They also filed a category two RFP to be able to upgrade so they're simultaneously doing this So you have the option here. Maybe you're not quite ready. This is all interesting to you But you might have missed your budget cycle or something like that at the where you're at where you need it I think that a category two investment number one if you haven't done e-rate before This is a good way to get started into that. Christa will help you I will help you with the RFP that relates to that and get get set up for the equipment that you need to do for an upgrade and Potentially look for upgrading to a point with your equipment that you're ready for your fiber The other two are just, you know, kind of a little bit of shaming but a little bit of excitement if So I think we'll just move on So the assessment options It's possible your library or you yourself or feel like you're knowledgeable with About it. I think the first thing I would do and what I have done Because I would offer a service to is generally because of COVID-19 restrictions I've been asking now know exactly what to ask for and how to take the shot and usually or if we're able to have it Communicated by the library director sends me a photo. I take a look to see what it is They are working with with specific items Sometimes we just have to describe the item because you have no idea what the box has in it or what the box is so But you may have somebody on staff who can take a look at that and you or you yourself can go ahead and do some research and You know, I guess to me if it's more than five years old then it's it's or four years old It's on the suspect list to begin with and so if it's older than that, you're probably looking at replacing if it relates to network Trent in connectivity in your library, so maybe you Your school district tech person personnel Potentially, I know some libraries have a good relationship with them and would be willing to have them come in and talk to you Local school districts ESU tech personnel would also be a good choice to have come in to visit with you And if you're lucky enough, I would say if you have a contractor come in But I would be a little wary, you know, you want to make sure That you get their viewpoint on it, but my experience has been it's been pretty much an overload of what they're Suggesting that you purchase, but that's okay because then we come back after visiting with me with something that might More likely meet their budget and and be what what what it is they need as I stated before I'm happy to do that Probably we would do it remotely, but I've done it with several libraries and it's worked fine And then this is just a word of caution, but your current internet service provider Is somebody you can visit with about this? But in the light of the fact that you may be doing this and using e-rate you want to be sure you're just asking them Oh, can you take a look at my equipment and see you know, we're thinking about going to fiber and we're just wondering, you know What what would your recommendations be for us? You don't really want to mention e-rate because it gives them a unfair advantage of knowing something related to your Your your next move that would be to file for the your category two for funding So should mention the toolkit Yeah, I wasn't I didn't have time to get out and take a look at it I think we'll have a follow-up email about things that to talk about but yet Yeah, just no background for a walkthrough of your own equipment We were all Holly Christian I were involved in the formation of a the toolkit in Nebraska is one of the pilot states With toward gigabit library initiative so and that's available and that also if you will complete that You can get Continuing ed credits too if you complete it and if you send the completed form into Holly with the eye Here that Holly dogan you can get some credit for that I think it's really it's really well written and if you are working with it I would recommend your I mean you're welcome to give me a call if you get stuck Or if you want to get started with it and you want to visit with me about it I would love to do that with you Like Tom said we were the very first library that worked with the gigabit library group. There you go Yeah, I actually have this linked off of the e-rate page that we have my e-rate website It's the toward gigabit libraries toolkit. Yeah, and this is just a great way to if you don't know What's in your closet like we said the beginning Holly you're afraid to look They can jump right to the section on you know internal devices kind of things They don't have to do that and this toolkit has been all over the United States. It's amazing what they've done with it And it's just for Community libraries just like what we have in Nebraska more rural This is not you know, I know this is not for many of you This is not your thing to know a lot about but it's the way it's very Conversational and again if you get stuck with anything you'd be welcome to call me and we'll send you this link I have an email that we're coming out next week with a number of things to you that are registered for this workshop And we'll include up there as well as like Krista said we have it already on the page highly recommended So anyway, you have a number of people to work with to do this and There's no shame and what your closet looks like You know, that's something you need to know too. Don't worry about it. They'll come in and they'll take a look at it and You'll be able to have an understanding of where you're at So we'll just I guess we'll just move forward. Just want you to know that it's it's okay And with school district personnel, you might want to offer chocolate chip cookies So always call in a favor when when you have an opportunity So Okay, we'll move forward. Okay, so here is the eligibility list of Devices that are current were for 2021. So this will be coming out for 2022 Krista Indicated she thought it might be late October November. That's when it has previously typically come out about that time. Um, I Don't know that there will be much. I Don't predict there being very many major changes to it it's There hasn't been any real this many much discussion usually this is there's a head of time discussion, but oh, yes, they're gonna change something Years ago, they did do this. There was a major update But since then it's kind of it's the basics and sometimes they tweak word in a little bit, but I would not expect anything drastic mm-hmm and I and I think Probably if you're not looking at if you're not talking about it with somebody who is a vendor in your community You and if you don't know what some of these items are on the list Exactly, you probably could just share that list with them and just ask them, you know If if you would take a look at these things one thing. Let's see. It's one two three four five I hope and it's not necessarily network device, but I hope Everybody gets some racks. Let me just tell you That's the one thing I would say for a small row library I'm always so pleased when I go back into a library and they've actually got a rack on the wall And they're utilizing it and and the equipment is so much It's so much easier to work with and one thing I will say this isn't necessarily have to do with fiber But has to do with internet no matter what when you get a call or you call the internet provider and say I'm having this problem If you've got a yet your equipment in a rack and you've got it labeled It is so much easier to speak with them and for you to have a conversation and potentially Fix it yourself with their assistance Super important But you see here we have the antenna so at the top of the list so this would be any of your Wi-Fi Access points and this also includes because I believe you guys tell me if I'm wrong It's attached to the building the ones that are outside now They can also because it's physically attached to the building so those those antennas are also a part of it Cabling we could talk about your ethernet cabling it interior to your walls if you Have a history of your library and let's say in the last 10 15 years There's been nothing done with if you have cabling behind drywall or whatever in your walls It would might be a good idea to be looking at replacing that also ethernet cabling the firewall Tom talked about it the importance of it and And I think that that's something that definitely would be a part of a list for you racks the router switches the router You know it could be that whomever you award to would have a recommendation for a router Or they may actually have a router that they would rent to you But again, if you want to purchase it, this is the way to do it Switches if you I know that we get had gigabit switches In the B top grant But they would be 10 years old so you may also want to consider replacing your switches Whether you want to use a managed or unmanaged I think you know the recommendation would be managed and that would be great if you actually use the service capability of Having somebody managing, you know some some local person coming in and setting that up. That would be far superior I'm having a hard time seeing some of this with the light Oh that that also is and my mind is pretty critical And I'm sure you would agree that if you're buying this expensive equipment You want to be sure that you if the power goes out that you can manage having it go down gracefully Every library that worked with this fiber that had ordered and And a UPS that they didn't already have it Okay And the wireless controller system. I've never worked with that Tom has do you want to kind of highlight that me personally? Because it's a home network, but every single school district manages numerous Wireless access points up and down there always and within every classroom So libraries are just getting to kind of that size Do you could you use one to cover every square foot of your library? Do you need one if you're multiple floor? I do you have a dead spot over in the stacks or where the young patron Tables are something like that So that's part of the assessment is that you would look at the range of a wireless access point Whether you need one or more and the fact that those things I need to interlace with each other and then not have radio Conflicted signals So the more that you would put in the more likelihood You would need a wireless control system So that you can see all the access points or somebody can see them for you and then help manage If you can get away with one or one really High-powered wireless router in the center of your library then or your library smaller Then this may not be something you need to worry about Yeah, okay And then the software supporting components is For distributing throughout buildings. I don't think that that would really apply to a lot a small library And then here under the notes it talks about if you have a cloud if you're working with a cloud Equipment in the cloud that it is also eligible. It has an eligibility For functionalities for certain things But I think the one the other thing here is it talking about is the manufacturer multi-year warranty One that's one of the things sometimes I know some people want to think about maybe not paying for that warranty But it looks like it's also can be covered also Which would be a good thing to make sure because if if you don't have a warranty and especially if you're in a rural area and that equipment is Out there and you have to go through the purchasing of a new piece of equipment If you could get a service person in and that may be questionable, too But I know that with the computers that we had with the BTOP grant. We actually did have warranties on them and we did have Authorized Companies able to come in and fix them relatively quickly Okay so Here is the next slide We want to talk about that at all We've kind of touched on this already, but the list in the prior slide was I'm going to go ahead and go out for procurement or RFP or Form 470 for a specific device and then paydab it installed and then May or may not be managed you can turn the entire Procurement on its head and bid in parallel Let's make that a service Therefore, I don't own the firewall the company that provides a service will own it upgrade it Maintain it and be able to see my network from the outside So it may be possible when you do your category to form 470 and procurement that you really look at it at two separate strategies And I know that may be foreign to many of you And also foreign to school districts because again, they manage their own They only end up buying the firewall or the edge device and then the three-year maintenance Package is bundled with that. So just something to keep in mind Allie and Krista can guide you when you get closer And it may be that you end up staying with the service you have and delaying your fiber construction by another year You may also be able to delay a firewall purchase in parallel with that, but if you are 90% sure that fiber is going to be for you July 1 2022 Then before February of that year your category two procurement will need to be done And they'll be shipping you either a service or a new device for your library. So Well, the next what I'd like to do next is just give an example of I guess I let me step back With the category two It's possible that you can file similar if you're familiar with category one and filing for Internet Connectivity with a vendor with just a paragraph within the form 470 But what we'd like to do with the fiber option for libraries and Category two funding if you're looking at it is And is to somewhat standardize what equipment is purchased across the state as much as possible so and in fact Trying to connect it up with the opportunity that if you have a local school or an ESU That is willing Perhaps they could also be considered somebody who could technically help you with that equipment. So for this last Round of e-rate we use basically This particular and if you want to go ahead and show it now screen sharing Yeah, you want to share your screen now? Okay. Hold on a sec. I'm gonna make you presenter Okay, see the pop-up to show your screen The word document There you go The one that one. Oh, no, I don't have it up there. Okay. Sorry. I'm missing it No, it's not that one either. Yeah, let's see. It's I think it might be on the web. Let's go to the Chrome Right there the multi-wheel take a look yay You've previewed what's going to be coming up. So basically if you slide it over But this is an example of equipment that Basically is an RFP that was used in two of the libraries that basically needed the same type of equipment and we went with what the ESUs are currently using across of the state and First part is baro access points. Yeah So is there another section no, this is just I just wanted to show you basically if you're considering this I want I'm showing you this to show you that Hopefully it'd be very easy the the top part is canned paragraphs basically that just describe who you are and what you know what what you're needing and What year you're doing your? Your you know what year you're associated with with the category 2 and then the bottom half that Tom was scrolling through and talking a Little bit about this is the equipment that you're asking about so when you're when you're asking this You know and you send this with the 470 your reply will be might be more than what? You've just itemized in here Because the vendor may be saying I've got this super list here for you What's great about that is then you can cherry pick what it is they'll have the cost of it and you know you and the number of what you need and Then include it in there because and the top paragraph you're saying I need somebody to install this also they'll include their cost for You know travel and installation of the equipment and setup of the equipment So it's really Pretty simple Assessment will be critical to you know making sure you get everything you want to have in your list Before you submit your 470 and then when you submit the 470 I prefer that if you're at all interested That you use this RFP and we look to equipment that kind of matches with the school systems Sustain and just a few words about that. So how you put up here the wireless access points There are about five main families of equipment that school district use they do not Center in on any one of those consistently, but ruckus is a Competitor Aruba ubiquity, etc. And we've got lists of those and they're all good It's just a personal preference when it comes to firewall, which is not listed in this slide Over 90% of Nebraska school districts are using for to get firewalls and they are Hands-down feature over function and price Everyone's preference particularly for smaller schools and then our larger school districts University lean more towards Palo Alto And that's regarded more as a premium product. Yeah, probably beyond our needs For what we're talking about today and we did purchase they did the two libraries did purchase a forti gate will firewall that when they Yeah, and Chris said while you're speaking you should go into the or equivalent portion Yes, yeah, can you It is a and someone to just mention it's true. It is a little small on the screen there to see this can use For the list like zoom in a little bit up at the top there where it has the 81% Yeah, yeah Yeah, you'll also you'll be getting a copy of one of this as well We're gonna be sending you next week at some point right Holly. Yeah, yeah, probably Tuesday or Wednesday Yeah, you're all going to be The template of this to for your own reference as well I think I'll send a bid response also. I just didn't know how much time we'd have from From one of the vendors just to give you an idea what you would receive back It was it was a bit complicated For the library to wade through it Because they don't just send you just the facts But one thing I did like about it is they sent for each piece of equipment They sent a you know an informational page about it which helps you to educate yourself about what it is you're Purchasing yeah, often in their quote their bid responses to you their quotes. They are Trying to sell themselves so like half of this like 20-page document is here's why we're such a great company That's fine. Where's the details give me how much it's gonna cost Right So that wraps and what Tom did you have something to say? No, okay. That wraps up my portion of it And I don't know if Becky's on yet She is Michelle does it Stephanie. Did you want to ask another question? I did yes I saw you had locked down and back in against that's why it was still muted on you Stephanie you should be able to unmute yourself if you wanted to That's correct. Thank you. I just was looking to see the the wording Thank you. Okay. Yep, and Chris. So you can take back control the screen. Yep. I'm going to also do this there and Back to me there it is There we go and yes, Becky is here You should be able to get your camera going Okay, tell me again how to That's okay. There is a webcam Option that you can click on to show you there you are Hey, great Thanks. Good Well, good morning, Becky. I'd like to introduce you to this group. I find her as the one of the very willing library commission Partnership libraries and individual out in western Nebraska She and I just want to mention about Becky she and four of the other libraries or three of the other libraries that Committed to fiber and will receive fiber from this last year were part of what we talked about which was a sparse grant and I'm hoping that she'll highlight a little bit of information about that because She not only joined with us, but she got the governor to come out there and Work with and have an open house there with the kids all the elementary kids came down and they had an open house for The Sparks grant and Sparks grant was an I'm a less Grant that we had and I can't even remember Tom the title of it because it was pretty darn long Um Breaking the ice and Nebraska schools and like right and Basically, it was a community Where you had a school and a library and agreement that they would used a fixed-based Wireless connectivity and they were capable of that Between the school and the library and this was pre COVID-19 that we did this this was before so five years ago addressing The homework gap the fact that there are so many Children in the community that may even go home with a device that they don't even have internet to use wonderful. Thank you You guys are great extemporaneously But anyway, this was just the beginning and I think for those four libraries I've talked to them from last year and all of them it was like, you know, the the speed went from maybe they had 12 I know one library had six megabits 12 maybe 25 To 70 megabits to 200. I think there was a Connection that was bad. I'm sure so there was anywhere from a 400 to 1500 percent Temporary increase in bandwidth speed to these to the homework hot spot, right? Which was a new set of desktop computers that were any to the library. So and I think they offered Wi-Fi to Yeah, so when so when the student would come in with their device They could they could also connect in the library But anyway, I'm taking I'm taking Becky's time But I just wanted just to mention that I think what happened there was Boy, you got some speed that you didn't really want to let go of or you may still have it But you wanted to be able to be you know have it your your own and in particular some of those libraries and After three o'clock, then they would get the Larger amount of bandwidth available to them because they were using it in the school before that. So Becky is With fiber and incomplete control now. So thank you Becky for coming on board to talk to us and It's yours Well, basically we're a small town Under 1200 population and so it's hard to get good internet anywhere in our town And so the spark grant was wonderful that when we worked with the school in getting there a taste of what the fiber was But like you said during the day we we would have to share that with the school and all the kids there but Basically, we're lucky if we would get 25 megabits for our internet that we had for well for me to use and then also for the patrons They come in and there's a circle and and the each computer is plugged into a cable so they can get the internet Well problem there is the more people using it the slower it would go so When I heard about the opportunity, I thought oh that'd be great and you couldn't beat the cost and So now We're able to get 500 mega by megabits and it's just Unbelievable what the speed will be my problem is that when I went and did this I Did have help from The ESU a gentleman that that heart bleeds for the smaller communities that don't have the IT and and support, you know from Internally and he I had met him through the sparks grant and he's the one that had installed the Access point from the school and so we had a working relationship so he helped me come up with my items that I needed and When it came down to the point where he said I said well What about for all the installation because you know, you can include that in your bed He said oh, I'll do all you know, I'll do all that for you for nothing. Well, that was great, but So we're still not the fibers here and We're ready to roll and and we're being billed for it, but I'm still not quite finished He's busy school is going to be starting so he's very busy So but one of the problems I did run into is that I did not get my equipment ordered right away and and so not all of my Equipment has come in. I'm waiting on a switch and my two access points, so I can't stress enough that When once you know what you need and what you know, you got your funding get that equipment ordered right away Because I know it's not just Computer stuff that is behind but you see it all over the world about the shortages of containers And and and stuff. So I learned the hard way and on that Another thing that I wanted to tell you is And Kristen knows firsthand. She was there telling me all along it'll happen Just you just have to wait and wait, but all of my funding Was approved except for the big one the installation and that was like $22,000 and so the company that I was working which was oh Well, Nebraska link or optic networks, which they're on an awesome group They came to town Started getting the fiber going got the lines run and I'm sitting here sweating because I hadn't had the Final approval and here they are digging up outside and I'm thinking oh, this is going to be nice Where am I going to come up with? 22,000 dollars to pay for this, but it was in the contract that You know upon that we would do this upon Approval of the the e-rate funding. So I knew I had that in my pocket, too and It took quite a while to get that final one Approval but I did finally and then I could go shoot I was good Becky was the first you were the first library from you were the inaugural lot library to do the filing for the 470 with the special construction category one so For her to be the second to the last to be approved for that and then she had a pride for the category, too So again, I think she's got some An interesting story to tell you don't worry, you know And Krista kept reassuring me that sometimes it happens after the start date and you know Because I kept thinking man. We're getting closer to July. We're getting closer July, but But I did reach out to the gal that was in charge of my case and so they are approachable if you get a message, you know, you can talk to me you can ask and Once you talk to them and you find out, you know that they're drowning and all these things that they need to get done Then you can kind of understand, but I just kind of pointed out that you know I'm kind of anxious, you know, I wanted want to be able to you know and stuff and it all worked out, but it did It was touch-and-go there for me anyway Yeah, that's yeah, that's an important thing to understand This this is just a thing having to do with e-rate in general nothing specific to our special construction Projects that we're doing here is that it can take they are going through hundreds of thousands sometimes of applications and requests and Sometimes it takes some time and you just yet just need to have patience As Becky said it right now for this 2021 year We still have in Nebraska a few libraries who applied for e-rate and still have not received their Notification or answer back yet of a yes or no on the funding not not special construction specifically about anybody And that's just how it works But what is important is even if they don't get you your official answer until after the funding year starts Which starts July 1st you get the funding back to July you get it gets you know You get credited for everything But yeah reaching out to them sometimes does help and it did actually with her she just said Just how can you tell what's going on and they realize? Oh, let's let's try and move yours along, you know Doesn't hurt you've got you got someone to sign to your case your application and you can always say just wondering Having that specific clause we did do that to add that specific clause to all the contracts that you do have that states the library does have the They can they can cancel out of this contract if the e-rate e-rate is not approved So you will sign a contract with these companies But there will be this out just in case because the e-rate is not a guarantee E-rate is not a guarantee It's I'd say it's a 99% guarantee that it'll go through eventually unless there's something drastically wrong with your application which Our job mine and Holly and Tom's to make sure that doesn't happen But we always have that clause in there as Becky said that little in your pocket that They they're welcome to come and do the construction and if they what the company wants to but if something Crazy happens and e-rate says no the library is not on the hook for that and it's in that contract that the company knows Going forward with this contract is contingent on approval of The e-rate funding Now the company that I went through only provides Fiber to Government organizations So they I was hoping that they could branch out to like our people in baird You know home residential and stuff, but they can't but they can't do the city office the Firehall the any government stuff like that, but I know that there are some Other providers that probably can but I only had two two Bids so and they were significantly difference in different and pricing Right, they were yeah, and one of them. I think they just kind of You know I Have their business now, so I don't need to worry about it. They didn't even actually follow the The RFP requirements, do you remember that Holly? Yeah. Yeah, they just kind of did what they wanted so They shot themselves in the foot So Becky this is Tom and Lincoln. I have a question for you. Yeah So when you're going through program integrity assurance of PIA process was there any Request that you had to turn back to the company to help you answer those questions or were you able to answer all those Yourself or with the library commission I Pretty sure I answered it all with the library commission. Yeah Between Chris and Holly. I think so. Yeah, so that's a good testimony to the Comprehensiveness of your procurement because the more information you get on the front end than the last you have to go out and speak When the questions start rolling in so yes, we're very familiar with Nebraska link optic We think of them almost like a wholesale company Besides governmental, they'll do large business They're definitely in the fiber business and they also sell to Smaller telcos because they have fiber over the entire state or they may sell to a fixed wireless company Who's going to send Signals out to rural Nebraska So they'll bring fiber to the base of a tower and then that company will actually buy internet from Nebraska link and then Redistributed so there are the first largest provider of circuits on network Nebraska And Great Plains is the second largest Very familiar well, they're very very good to work with Down to the guy that was digging the holes. I mean they were they were very professional Great and a lot of times these companies will hire a service One of the most famous is Bauer underground out of Norfolk, Nebraska So there are some contractor to put fiber in the ground and then there's other companies that would put fiber Overhead and they actually bring it into the libraries You know as they it would look like a telephone or electrical line and it comes in overhead But in all manner we prefer that that fiber be put underground So that we're immune from squirrels like we talked about on Monday. I Guess mainly I wanted to you know, be sure and tell you to order your equipment early and There is funding I mean you can include the installation and all that And I think maybe if I were to do it over I would would maybe go ahead and do that But yet still have been as a helper just because of how busy he is with his job to and Having to do this for me when he's not working Yeah, that's a good cautionary tale there because I have met Ben and Ben is just a heart of gold a Wonderful person and I know Becky is saying that but it you just have limits and And what you can do and it is a busy time for him So and that also might help out for when you really need him in a pinch for something else You know, he might not be you know, it may be more available for that but but anyway kind side is 2020 and I think in general though you got one of the best of the best to help you so Yeah, and as Follow as far as you know, Chris does knows E-rate You suck from I don't know she could do anything blinded. I think with that so don't ever hesitate to Call her and she'll walk you through and Holly. She can help you figure out what equipment you I think when we did it Holly and Cynthia There was a Cynthia that was there still And that's how we First, you know wrote down the model number and what we had and then we went from there, but yeah Well, I was hoping you wouldn't say Holly can talk me into anything That's all right And when we did the spark grant he was here for that. Yeah Yep Tom's Tom's a friend of the public libraries Nebraska public life for sure So Becky if you're a liberty to share, I'm sure the libraries online are a little interested in your pricing Before and after and the way that Nebraska Lynn came back with I if I'm not mistaken Level pricing so you could have bought 100 megabits and been just fine But didn't they price it as a same cost at 500 as they did 100 is that true? Yes, they did so Actually having the fiber is going to be cheaper Internet for me than what I was paying You know went through a different company I think by the because you can also then what you know, you'll have to or I do I use E-Rite for my Monthly, you know internet cost and I'm down to 30 bucks for fiber 500 yeah So I that's it's you know unbelievable. I think we call that a success story. Yeah But like I said, I wouldn't have known anything about any of this if it wasn't for the the library commission So thank you guys for all that you do Thank you. You're welcome Any other questions from anybody? Yes, they may have any questions for Becky. Um, I've double-checked. I've got you everyone is unmuted on my side So you're just muted by your on your saw on your own If you want to ask any questions, you can unmute yourself and ask right now. Well, we've got Becky on the line with us Holly is the public service commission going to do that extra 10% with this new one also Yeah, this is a four-year program and you were part of the year for it What I what I don't know is if they're gonna use the same application I have a call in about that for this next year, but and I how did you feel about that form pretty easy to fill out wasn't it? It was it was pretty easy and you know, they Yeah, you could answer it. I don't think I had to have help really. I think it worked out good So I encourage you it's definitely worthwhile Yeah, that's a good question to ask about how long this is this is your two of this extra special extra funding from the state So and as Holly was mentioning too if you and I think Tom too If you don't not sure if you're ready to jump on board with a whole fiber construction thing this year You could do the category to and upgrade all your equipment and then next year and even the year after that This extra 10% on state matching funds from the public service commission will still be available for you so You have time So I at the risk of you know Our next topic is the RFP the template RFP that you work through to submit with your 478 Becky What did you think of that? Was that a something that was easy for you or I think I had questions but When I asked my question it was easy to you know, it looks like a lot and it's overwhelming thinking. Oh my gosh all this but You guys when you got the hell bet your finger go for it there you have good support they are a great support system and Even if like they said if you decide to get the upgrade the equipment Do that and then you'll have it all and you won't be waiting like I am You know for the show slow ship from China and then you'll be ready for the other but Yeah, I it It's pretty walk yourself through I think there was a couple places where I didn't understand what they were what what I needed to put on there But you were out and yeah, and you're probably not used to working through that type of a project So that would be understandable I just have one more question and and I don't and you can say no to it But I guess for me I'm excited to see what libraries do with this Increase in internet speed if there are programs you're thinking about offering or Equipment or anything. I know that the Baird public library is not Extraordinarily large, but are there some things you're thinking about doing now that you have reliable scalable speed of fiber Well, I visited with you before about maybe Sharing it with either we don't have a community center We do have a senior center and we do have the fire hall that seems to be the community hub so We could get the equipment and maybe bounce it from us to the fire hall You know, that's another next step that we could work with too because you know Holly she's a go get her You know, we had this conversation and and yeah, I've just mentioned it is the ECF Eligible so that would be something that you could look into so cool Very neat. We're just right now. We're just glad to be able to have a summer reading We're glad to be able I'm in the middle of a team program right now. It's nice just to be able to be together So we're holding our breath to see how long that lasts. All right Yeah All right. Thank you. Doesn't look like anybody had any questions. Nobody's typed anything in or unmute themselves. So Thank you so much Becky. Yeah, thanks for asking me Okay, so our Next topic is the special construction RP preview and discussion This yeah, eventually we'll get there Take it out and just minimize it for a second. There we go. Let's jump in the gun so as we were visiting with Becky I asked her about the RFP because I think it's important that it that it be usable by The library directors and they're not intimidated by it. So We do have a template that was created and I Put it together using a couple of other Library RFPs for special construction and then it has some cut obviously customization for Nebraska Public Libraries and and a lot of help from Tom as far as giving me the Reviewing it iterations of it along the way. So We'll move on to the next slide So basically again, here's my my heavy wording slides I'd like to do but I'm basically talking about if you don't know what a request for proposal is basically There it is a document issued by a business or an organization to request vendor bids for product solutions and services Which is what we're going to be doing with special construction or you will be doing In particular here, it just is just a summary of some information when you're visiting with even if you're Talking to a vendor and you don't mention that you're using e-rate and you're just wondering of what the cost of it is What we're looking for is for at least lit fiber is what you'll be requesting and One thing to know is it's also strongly recommended by the e-rate program To comply with e-rate state level and local bidding rules by submitting an RFP for your form 470 The dark fiber there are like I think four options of types of special construction that you can request Dark fiber says you must use an RFP I would challenge you to think that you could write this in and a few paragraphs to be able to Submit this and we would not recommend any of us that you submit for Special construction without using an RFP and again, we have an RFP for you to use. So that's wonderful So one that there's these three items here and as part of it the RF with the RFP This criteria must be in you need to address this in the RFP or have the response come back addressing this or the PIA group will be on your case and they you know that you'll have to be providing more information, but it's You have to have the scope of you know the project itself The I need to look at I can't read that on my screen. Let me see if I can So The analysis and comparison of hard data is what you have to do too So what you're going to be asking for and we'll go over this we have I have some filled-in Appendixes that tell you what you're asking for and then they get filled in by the vendors who are Responding to your RFP Also part of this RFP you're going to see that you have to have qualified vendors and within this RFP You're you outline these types of this type of information saying hey, you know You need to be this this and this in order to be able to submit a RFP for Submit a response to this RFP And then we had talked about this you know the cronyism and The the feeling about you know Maybe you're going to be rewarded the contract Becky mentioned that with the her previous vendor that That did apply or respond with an RFP and So now we're going to switch This is just information if you want more information about RFP as we can talk about it But I really think I wanted to spend this time Just reviewing the RFP so Tom you oh I'm gonna make you How about a break that Tom just put a sign in front of me that said break Okay, we can do that first Thanks, we're almost an hour and a half in today. Yeah, that's right. So that's a good timing. It's ten ten minutes Sure, if we want to we can take a five or ten minutes depending what people Come back at some 10 30 ish 10 30. Yep, it's 10 20 on my computer clock right now 10 30 We will start up again. So um Go ahead take a break get up stretch hit your restroom refresh your coffee Whatever you need and we will start right back up at 10 30. Hey Holly Yes, quick question Are you gonna hold our hand through all of this because all of it's going over my head Who is this I can't see oh Sorry, this is Stephanie from Orleans oh Absolutely, and I'll love doing it and I can give you testimonies from library directors that I have done that with and I think they're They're all very happy And and I think you know, this is why I wanted to go over the RFP and let you just visually see it and Every step of the way I'm there now Krista primarily works with the The e-rate portion, but she's very informed too, but that's kind of how we've divided out so the RFP or any of the equipment assessments And the ordering for the equipment would be something that I would be working with you with But Krista is like a whiz at the 470 and the 471. So if you're submitting that And you want some assistance. She's there for you. So I think in general we're all there will help you Yeah, yeah, we're all stuff that's intimidating Well, I think once That's why it's really we have you have to be careful how much information we have in but you can't give just part of the Information here. That's that's an issue, you know, is how to make that Available to you without making you feeling overwhelmed hang in there is all I can say because that'll be lovely for that community to have Library with fiber, you know Someday I'll tell you the story about what how the BTOP grant went with downloading six desktop computers with 52k of Internet speed Oh So anyone only imagine yeah, everyone's really excited for the fiber It's just they're all looking to me now because I opened my mouth and told everybody.  I can't remember. Yes, okay So again, that's that's what that's what you need to be saying to your community is we're gonna go fishing and we're gonna find out Yeah, and and then and I think that's the best way to respond to that But yeah through the whole thing. Yeah, we're not just putting this out here and then letting you know No, this whole program is actually us guiding running it pretty basically with the public service commission. Well Yeah, and we do the work But yeah, we know Holly will get you figured out what you have what you need equipment and when it comes to actually submitting the forms and There are fees we go back and forth and You can talk to any of the previous libraries who did it too if you wanted to like well Yeah, I haven't really asked them to If it would be okay to have everybody visit with them But I was going to do that as part of my between now and next week when I send out the additional email Just to confirm that they're okay with it But I'm sure they will be but I feel it's important that I just out But yeah, we had a lot of constant back and forth with any libraries that needed it Nobody was left on their own to try and figure it out. No, right I'm gonna excuse myself here. So I'm gonna Thanks, sorry for taking your time Yeah, this is Tanya from Ashland and I feel the exact same way you do I Got nervous once you guys started talking equipment the rest of it I was I was on board for but then you started talking equipment. I'm like, I don't know what a rack is The words you're saying are That is this I think the scariest part, but that's fine. We will Rack is ease that's actually out of all the equipment the simplest one. It's just all the shelves that the stuff goes on The rack is just those metal shelves. Have you seen pictures sometimes of computer? Yeah, and it just helps organize it, which is really nice like the colleagues saying it some of these people who've just got You know routers and things piled up somewhere and nobody knows what goes to what and the and the cords and whatnot But on some nice neat racks looks all pretty and you can see everything. So it's actually All of that is yeah That like yeah, thank you It is 10 30 by my computer clock, so Hello Yep So They give you presenter control again. Yeah. Yes, please. All right. Hold on a sec There you go. You should be able to share your screen show your screen. There we go. Let's go. All right How do I minimize us at the top there? Can I get rid of us? Just just go ahead and click anywhere on the RFP on the You're not we're gone. I'm still we're still here Okay, why is everybody back or how are we doing? Go ahead They don't actually leave so I don't know Just wanted to make sure that if we had anybody who had something coming up, okay Well, we're off and running here to this is the the RFP that was put together for last year's inaugural group You'll see in here. I have not updated it for 2022. I don't plan on making a lot of changes I did see a few typos as I was going through this From last year and and so I will be updating those and there are some things I might want to make clear But in general, this is what you will be getting receiving from the library commission as Your option for an RFP Number one is I would say that you should be sure that you share this with Your local government entity whomever it might be Board members and make sure that it meets whatever the criteria is in your your local community Because you know, I don't think you can do this in a vacuum You'll need to make sure that they're aware of it and you may need to ask them for some assistance and agreement to be I Have their name in it under various Responsibilities so that's I think that's all I have to say Oops So this is the contents There's actually get down to the 25 Lines of it and I think what we'll do is just kind of float our way through there's some areas I may not have much to say about in other areas that we'll talk more about and If there's something as we're going along you have a question about you can either wait till the end to talk about it Or we'll go back and take a look at it So here right off the bat We have our entry page and basically this is kind of like a summary for your potential Responder, I kind of like the idea of Personalizing it so we had libraries to put their logo in there or they put an image of their library up there at the top If you need help with that I'll help you with that anything in red here Definitely is something that you will be having to replace But I loved about this is and I use the same consistent Words for things and so you can pretty much do a replace all or replace one at a time as you read through it and And before you know it your three quarters of the way done with it So that's one thing about it that if you're intimidated by this don't be with all those pages because it is pretty easy to Complete the form. So this is basically a template for the calendar for the RFP and Here you may not be able to make heads nor tails about it I guess I would say don't worry about it when you start off and trying to fill this out because farther in there's a lengthy description of Each of the numeric Activities that need to be done helps you to fill it out and then then you can come back and fill this out Afterwards, this is more or less for you know, the vendor who's coming in and saying, oh, yeah I see you know that kind of a thing Here I know I have a mistake and I maybe Kristen will want to talk about it because we discovered That you can't have underscores in any uploads that you do for the form for 70 and e-rate So I will change this for sure, right? No, no. Yes. Yes. Yeah Yeah, but no underscores so I'll and I'll also note that in there so you that you will know So again, we're going to disregard the calendar right now Just simply because we have one that has explanation with it later on in the RFP this was Authored by yours truly Tom Ralfus and I as you may recall we talked about that Vendors in Nebraska have not ever worked with special construction before as far as With libraries individual libraries requesting Internet fiber and so he Put together a kind of a background for the vendors Most of them I think are aware of who you are also correct. Yeah, so But I was a learning experience for them last year, right? They were not all perfect in their response So we're hoping after year of learning in a little I'm going to leave it in for two years and then then we'll take it. Yeah coaching We'll get more productive bids, but this this information in your own time You may want to read it. It's it's good information for you especially if you need to speak with somebody about You know the opportunity this opportunity and gets a permission it would be nice to be informed So I do like it to be in there So we talked before about what what's part of a RFP and here we have this the scope of services So this is identifying what it is you're planning to do and again if you see the calendar year It isn't updated yet and now you see more of the infamous Fill in the blank once type of things that are in there and anything in red it could be descriptive too so I Don't know time-wise how much time we have See if you want to just read through this to This is basically Just identifying what it is You're looking for and if you see up here at this last sentence if you in order to qualify for or to submit a Application for the NUSF 117 grant you need to be asking for a minimum of a hundred megabits per second That also is the case. I believe for the match from the FCC for the other 10% So for that magic 20% that's coming in you've identified that you know for under 50,000 that you need to have the hundred megabits per second And then under here you see the other parts of the RFP that you need to clearly illustrate Network design and construction routes. That was another piece that they of information that they wanted But if you read through it, I'll send this to you by next week Wednesday I'm gonna commit myself to that. You'll you'll be able to reread through it I just don't want to spend a lot of time on each page of the 25 pages You see here in this highlighted in red This will be important to have you whomever is bidding to put an initialization there I did receive or now I shouldn't say I did but I received copies back to libraries where the Responding vendor didn't do this and I just think it's important for them to complete the form This is what this is one of their first tasks to do and So what we would do was we would receive it and then we would give them an opportunity to Go back through and actually put initialization on it And this it's important because this document can become part of your signed agreement at my end It's either the body of it or the appendix related but To hold vendors accountable after the fact and while service Is in process. There's a lot of terms here that would apply So here's an explanation of special construction again. This is would be new You know if there's a vendor that didn't apply last year This would be new for them to understand what special construction is And what what it means and this is something again for you to read um And the type of service that we are looking at is this is the request is for the least lit fiber or services so This is telling them. Can you go back up just a bit? Okay if I can I don't know how to get up there Just go up with here. Okay. There we go. So this paragraph where it says note right after project. Oh, yeah vendors are very familiar with Non-recurring costs which are the upfront to establish the service They don't all use that technique in their bidding a lot of times from our experience They spill all their costs into monthly recurring Because they think that schools and libraries do not have any money Which is pretty accurate But in this particular situation We do need them to itemize Numbers one two and three but not in their normal non-recurring flavor so They'll a bid and itemize construction network facilities design and engineering project management If there are other costs like the equipment to To make the service Usable that may go in non-recurring, but it's not eligible for the special match or some companies charge $200 to establish your account in their billing system That's a non-recurring cost, but it's not eligible for special construction So if you receive any questions during the q&a period and within the 28 day window of the rfp that's Important guidance, I think and some of these vendors this will be brand new to them. They never participated. So We need to help them construct their bids properly, but what you do with one you do with all any eligible Respond that needs to hear the same information So here is one area that I thought we would hover over and talk a little bit about So this would bid and contract exceptions Of course, who is licensed in accordance with the law and who does have a license qualifying for the state of nebraska? and certified with the nebraska public service commission And that would be something that you'll you might need to check on I knew All the vendors that were a new of them. And so I knew that they were nebraska vendors and then public service commission Yeah We're engaged with them right and our partners over at the psc can help respond to that and also a certificate of Good standing with the secretary of state, which could be number two Just be aware that your form 470 and the accompanying rfp Can be seen by any company in the country So a couple years ago on network nebraska. We had a new hampshire Fiber reseller find our rfp Certified themselves with the public service commission Responded to our procurement and then one a circuit And we're going how is that possible? They have no Infrastructure in the state and their their business model is to resell other people's fiber and then do it at a cut rate. Well I They were supposed to bring the circuit up on july 1 it didn't happen until november 15th So I don't want to go into excruciating detail but every vendor is eligible unless you have some type of Ingredient or requirement that says they're not and that's something we hope that that never happens You only get qualified nebraska companies responding or Maybe iO or colorado or something like that Something you know Us that would make sense Yeah, actually we did have a A response from texas With the local libraries last year too. So and so you either have a way to you don't want to Eliminate them because you have to be fair and open But you also want to make sure that they're not applied by night organization For bidding something that they're just looking for Extra business or they're going to take you for a ride so to speak. So We're worried about that always at the state and we try to incorporate language that will prevent that from happening So this part this next part is pretty critical and it may be some information You want to be sure to have A communication between yourself and the potential bid award And so this is all the information that you need to supply This is where I saw one of my typos up there sell any of director Yeah, just a quick thing on point of contact if you're going to get interest from a provider that's unfamiliar or new to your community In order for them to construct their bid response It's really advantageous for them to to do a walkthrough. I was going to talk about But do it on your terms Not on there. So they need to meet your time frame. Sorry. No, that's okay. Well, actually you'll see later the the walkthrough I think for The template that I'm using here When you were evaluating with a rubric as to the points for The vendor and we'll we'll get to that point But one of the things that has in there is to do a walkthrough and one and but yet it didn't have in here That that they had to so it was one of the ways that you could make it a quick 20 points if you were But if it's a mandatory requirement and they don't do a walkthrough, then they're eliminated Well, maybe this will be something we change I mean that is a way to eliminate these out of state Or right That really is something you you want to support our local businesses. I think Right that it means any bidder must also then do that no matter where they're located in the state So again, this this section here has a lot of highlighting in red So this would be something you would read through and you would need to To update and fill in So this was more information about the contact between yourself and this potential vendor So here we are again at the sequence of events and this is more of the What was at the beginning a little more a few more lines to it and also it Has an explanation of events. So well, let's just start and go through this I think this is important for you to understand This is all preliminary work that you'll have to do you won't wake up one morning and say, oh I think I'm going to submit my 470 today with my rfp Without having spent some time to think about what it is What you need to know before uh, you submit it and fill in this information So the release of solicitation would be You or you and crista the day that you actually submit the form 470 and upload the completed rfp And that's the date the key date for when you start Your activities that follow And so there is a time period that you allow for interested parties to Submit questions to you. They may not want not not be ready to actually Submit a response, but they need or they need clarification So we have uh five working days After it's submitted for this now. I have to say unfortunately for A couple of the libraries that submitted last year the time got to be such a crunch We basically had only three working days for them to do that, but we didn't you know have A weekend or anything engaged in it and that's that's what we did. I ended up working with a lot only one library had a response or asked questions and And then the library called me and we put together a response and they submitted it back to them and they did apply But they were just looking for clarification So This is how the library responds To the the questions through a Solicitation addendum and or amendment to be posted on the internet And we had the usa website and then also the nlc website. We we pretty much we used it also because We didn't know if the local library would be able to manage the website and want to put in the time to Set a structured page together for the information. So each of our libraries that we worked with which were Five of the libraries We Had a section in on our website, which was noted in the initial sending out of the rfp to local Vendors who were in the area where the library was located And it identified at the site where they could go and they could download the rfp from there and any questions or anything Uh back and forth amendments were stated in there Again, there was only one and nobody else had any questions. So that was pretty easy to do I'd be willing to let a library manage that if they wanted to I don't have a problem with that But I think it'd be easier just to let us do it Um you want to talk about deadline quick? Uh, yeah the deadline is uh, we have 36 days after the rfp is released Do you want to talk about it? Well mandatory minimum is 28. Yeah me longer, which is good Because at the same time that all of our libraries here will be on the street The state will be on the street with probably 40 or 50 circuits These are the same companies and they'll be responding to both But my point about deadline It should be day date year time And time zone and whether or not Elsewhere in the rfp. Are you going to accept responses by email? by print Hand delivery postmark. Yeah, or so on it doesn't matter which way you do it But it's got to be specific and it's got to be applicable to all So we had one situation years ago where One of our main providers Drop their rfp to the state purchasing department two minutes after the deadline. It was not open They lost $250,000 with the business because they would have won the award, but It's very specific Otherwise it could be midnight of that day or whatever, but whatever you choose If it's got to be in person drop off or whatever make sure you're ready to back that up And the response has a deadline for the library to respond back. It's within two days So this is the explanation of events. This is and I think time's got a good point there that It needs to be added to the the actual table, but So that this is what we're the expectation is So the proposal Deadline has occurred and one thing that I would like to say and I'm not going to mention any library's names but when those Those proposals come in you want to again, yeah, you want to stamp them with the date And the time that they arrived and so that's something you might jot down is if you can locate a Stamp that has not just the date, but the time on it that would be important to have What that's for some of the libraries that was the biggest burger boo was trying to find that The p-series though do not do not open these proposals until you have all of them And you've passed your deadline You can open them at you know three I think this one has a 3 p.m. In the afternoon at 301 you can be sitting down and opening them, but That's how it should be done. The process should be done You shouldn't open them as they come in and hold on to them until the deadline and then say, okay Well, now let's really look at them So Please do that And you see here for the team of three for the reviewers Seem like a nice number for a small rural library library director Maybe the library board president and somebody from either the municipal administrative part of your your community or Technical if you want to somebody from the school that's it's a it or something like that That would be some recommendations and so you do a review and then you have During that review you may throw some of the RFPs Out of the running because or the responses because they don't meet all the expectations So you do have to read through it and see what the response is and what they'll send you is the response for the RFP Hopefully all filled out and then they'll send you another 30 pages of you know information for you related to their company, etc And I have something to say about that too and hopefully somebody will remind me about the Spiral notebooks and we'll talk about that that When they do when you do your evaluation with three reviewers may be independent of each other and you end up with scores Make sure they're anonymous so reviewer one two and three and because you're a public entity If someone loses a bid a provider they can actually ask you for your scoring And to show and verify that this company won and the reasons why when money's at stake their values and Desperation changes so just be aware of that and keep everything above board Pretty formal pretty transparent. You don't owe them any of that information unless they request But be ready to provide it if if request. Yeah, I had Every library last year I then put all of the you know when they did the scoring that they you know At least they told me they did they put them all as as they indicated the one two three and then also into a folder And just filed it away So it would be available That that's a good point to make too So document document document put everything in writing somewhere so Chris is the queen of that kind of information Well erate makes you do it too. This is an erate rule You know you you need to have they they have the right to come and say hey Why didn't we get this we think we had the best proposal? Well, here's our reasoning And know that you may just get one response and and you can do five six and seven pretty much You know all at one time at once they might not have an actual competitive bidding process Yeah, and so so this is just um It can be compressed down or if you are busy and you can't get together We had a couple of because of last year With and with covet With the responses we had some of them do they didn't actually I don't know if that's a problem They don't physically meet together, but they were in a zoom meeting that I participated in so that was it So a post notification of a tend to award so I Chris I I would like you to visit about this because um, I did not Publish this anywhere anywhere. I just put this um to the library to inform the um The award winner that they had won the award and I thought you had indicated that would be okay to do Yeah, you mean as opposed like making a public press release Yes And it's it's customary to tell all the vendors If you just if there's only two or three just email them Especially the ones who were not awarded We're awarding to this company. Thank you for your interest in our procurement But you don't need to put it on the website or anything. It's just the state of Nebraska does but here you do now Okay, so that's that's different. But yeah, it is good to inform The award winner obviously and then those that did not receive the award Uh and the finalization that's where you're communicating with the um awardee and yourself And then just to make sure everything lines up in a row for you um And I don't know if tom you have anything else if there's anything particular that is uh conversation with the contract finalization period Um, if your municipality retains legal services and they quite well do a county attorney or something like that You wouldn't heard it during this framework Uh to get another set of eyes saying this is what we've evaluated This is how we're going to award. This is the terms of our p. These are the terms that the provider pushed at us And uh, just have a quick legal review as long as it doesn't cost you a ton of money It just helps you don't kind of validate your process gives you the peace of mind Uh as a library director and then The award the contract is awarded basically again, this you know, there's a caveat of You have to have the funding for this to happen and then you do you can come up with a start date um, but in general that is not followed through so that's but that's just kind of completes your your calendar there Yeah, and there's a difference between contractors start date. So You sign the agreement with the vendor. They're now under your direction. So that could be February 25th march 1 whatever But the actual service start date of the fiber the goal the target is A july 1 but it gives them from the time of your e-ray filing Or you're waiting until you're funded and then you submit your order for service If you submit your order right after Your 471 filing and you're just crossing your fingers that company will do like what happened with becky And they're going to be in the ground Because you're a willing payer of service So just know that it doesn't have to be july 1 2022 It could be later. Take your own sweet time Make sure you're funded with the rate and then submit the work order following your contract Look at number one here. This is the state is subject to change at the discretion of the point of point of contract contact, I mean, so Yeah, so that would be the library here So Give a little warning about that too. You know, you said becky's just came and did it And they may sometimes be a little pushy about it. They want to get it done. They want to get it done And it's okay to keep saying Contract and stuff says you got to wait. I understand we've got Another library we're still waiting on and they keep nudging and you're like you're welcome to start digging but Until this is a proof from e-rate. This is not really a done enough deal so The company endures the risk right if they want to do it They're tying without the work order in hand. So you're protected right and I think that they knew that Actually, you know, and they they went ahead and do it because she didn't talk to them about it We do have a question that came in when we were talking about this the Making this decision making and documentation. Um, and I don't know about this question Tanya wants to know is there a score sheet from us that we provide or do they create one? You know for deciding the criteria of who they're going to pick for what there we go. Yes It's a little farther down Tanya, but any basically And this is just a hypothetical As I we told them in training last year with the workshop You you can make the decision But here this is where you see that there was a walk through and that's 20 points and actually There were there was one set Two biddings and the 20 Points of course it went toward the library that the vendor that the library would have preferred But it made the difference. Yeah, but they hadn't come through. Yeah They did the walk through Yep, so the anyway, so this is the This also has some resources that are connected to it that kind of help you to understand How to put together a rubric scoring. So we'll go back up So you can make a decision also as to how your library receives these documents In in this one we asked them not to send it as an email even though we I when I say we had since it but the libraries did receive Some that were emailed to them probably more for the vendor just fishing kind of response Or a fax so you need to either have it in this case For this rp currently it has to be hand delivered or mailed with a midnight Time postmark postmark as midnight as long as it's part of the Yeah, so it may show up two days later because that's the other thing you may want to think about here Is that where you want that to show up because if your library isn't open all the time Which many of rural libraries aren't then You might want to work that through maybe you have a city office That they could you could have your date and time stamp there and that they take care of that when it arrives If they have somebody walk in because some of the rfp responses were delivered hand delivered And others were mailed and us postal service from link. No maha right now. It's four days So keep that in mind And you're all experiencing that probably rural Nebraska. So this this gives you some information about Um, um, how you know how you will receive it. So here we have a bunch of general conditions One in particular here for the pia review it says So This is all applications including special construction a subject to detailed questioning during a pia review and so one of the things for Tanya had mentioned earlier. Oh, no Steph had mentioned earlier. I think She wasn't she was Feeling very concerned about, you know, the the complexity of this one thing is that once you have a The 471 submitted whoever your vendor is they will get all the technical questions Related to the the from the pia and related to the project that won't come necessarily to you Hopefully you would be carbon by it. No, that's what I thought No, no, no, I'm wrong then. Okay, so go ahead Which is the library will be contacted by the reviewers from usack about the rate But then if you need to the you can Reach out to the whoever your vendor is and say, oh, they need you to I need that you help answer this question because I don't know if it is a Yeah, that would be what instead of saying what I said it would be that you have the The ability to to look to them and they actually in this rfp somewhere They state they are willing to do that. I do know that that's in there. So So that's a obligation that they're they're agreeing to do that on behalf of this project Um, so again, I'm not sure, you know time wise I hate to be taking this all this time to go over this because it will send it to you um And some of this frankly, I don't know what the davis bacon act is and but it I think it's pretty important and I can't remember what it was um So here this is one thing is this is where I was talking about the spiral piece that um that I mentioned You'll get some lovely lovely glossy brochures in as your response I mean truly beautiful But then they'll send you three of those and you need to make a copy of it So be sure To identify that, you know when they they they provide you with the original copy and maybe duplicate copies could be Free paper, you know Just um not bound that you could make copies of that was a problem We just basically it wasn't really a problem. They just Asked the vendor to send a online copy of it So here Is that toward the end here? Um, this is what the vendor needs to do as part of their report back to you um This is all the the items that they need to complete in order to be Considered So we went over this rubric before and so you make them aware of what you know What points they you know what your point system is so they know what they they're trying to achieve 100 percent um And so here's the the that that has to be a symmetrical scalable solutions 100 by 100 minimum So if you say that preference will be given to solutions based on That would be something you probably want to score And that can be embedded in the rubric It's something you might want to think about otherwise. It's just a subjective judgment so another update so If you read here, it says the mandatory tables provided to summarize I have another document for this appendix a b and c that was actually filled out That I wanted to bring up So here is uh, a library's response from a vendor who was awarded um, and basically you're saying this is similar to what happened with Bayard public library. Do you see how the contract the Cost is the same Oh, no, your cost was the same for for all 100 to 500 But here that doesn't matter how many years you're with them So looking at this, um, I I do have the location in there There and we're asking them within the rfp. Can you give us between 100 and 500? Some pricing for three years. That's inside the rfp. So this is their response to that And then no taxes and fees and I like tom to explain that taxes and fees. Would you mind for sure? So In the e-rate world and with all telecommunications circuits in nebraska, they're subject to the nebraska universal service fund surcharge And that's administered by the psc Or collected there of 6.95 percent So that is certainly most companies will build that it'll either be absorbed Into the monthly recurring or in this case it may be itemized But that's not an unusual fee And then at least two of our providers in the state Have been subject to a federal regulatory fee of about another 1% If they're going to charge that as a flow through to you The customer they need to itemize that here So what you're trying to do with this cost proposal? Is achieve no surprises and that is sure their base rate is 99.90 a month for one two or three years Well, what if the taxes and fees show up on your first invoice is $50? So you don't want that to happen. So your language in the cost proposal Requires a vendor to bring all those up front so that you can do a valid Evaluation if they make good on 99.90 And everything's included That's great But they can't Introduce costs after the fact when you've already evaluated and awarded them Based on 99.90 So Good question So Here this is the other appendix fee also required And it tells how many strands and the the time the length of mileage And cost and what is eligible to be? submitted to e-rate And this is one I will mention this For some reason not all of the responses Even the Accepted ones included this we had a couple libraries where We couldn't find where they filled this in and then even on their response There was the strand count or the the distance that mileage of like basically just how far it takes to get from where the fiber is to your building Um, and we had to reach out while I was helping a library do their form for 71 the second form that this information is provided in Um, we got to that point. It was a surprise like wait. Why can't we find this information and somehow it got missed So make sure they fill this in or we actually found out it was actually a quick phone call to the company Especially when they are local as opposed to in new hampshire or whatever Um, that leads to them. I think Just at that while I was on Online with them working on the form. They said hang on i'll call bob at the company And they did and he knew out off this head gave them the answer and they continued on with the form so um get that info but It says it's required and somehow it got skipped with making sure we had that information Well, that's good information because that's something that would be easy to check when you receive Your bid and if it's the awarded bid if you look through it, and then you don't have to have a paa Review, um, you know, well, that's no they won't we can't even submit the form without that info It wasn't let me go forward I see it's In the course 71 Yeah Yes, yep. It's one of the things I ask is strand count and the number of feet or that it is Care of that before you contact prista, you know About Good. Um, so those two are required as part of the response from uh for the rfp. This is required Not all libraries completed this in their response this one Not all the vendors Responded and completed this But you do have to and if you are the awarded vendor But this kind of gives you a breakdown and and you'll see this when you receive the rfp of the cost For the project Which is it's nice to have also I had wished more of them had done this Just as a response to the 470 so krista is this part optional? Not optional. Um Well, I'm wondering that right there total distance of the project that sounds more like what The 471 is asking for That very first in there OSP information that never came up in your experience in any of the It's nice to know But is is this required it is requests that separated out when you do the 471 no After the fact you can make it be a requirement of the rfp Yeah, but I think it in there somewhere We'll like we'll take a look and we'll I'll respond to that on wednesday because I thought that it's it said that The paa would require you to fill out the information in appendix c. I'll just check it out Yeah, b for sure the one right before this this one Seems a and b are for sure. I think yeah And then c might be nice to know additional detail, but may not be called upon Okay, so did it say something at the top? No, it didn't. Okay. Well, anyway, so those are Three the three appendixes and these have the information in them Okay, I think about No, where we're going from here Maybe um, there was there. Oh, oh on this one. Yeah, I need to go back to the other page So again, these these are included in the rfp They unfortunately they are not In the spreadsheet format so This is continuing on in the rfp This is more probably more information just for the Respondent so they know this is your expectation How things should be left after The project is completed or what they need to do as they're they're working through the project specifications and permits And I don't know what a tracer wire installation is In the depth of burial all of these things, um, quite honestly, we're just taken from the other rfp that I worked with that Just had this information and it seemed to be important to hope that they're industry standards But you also hope you don't get any questions about these things when If they've seen it in the rfp and they'll provide an alternative So here it is an optional documentation for erate review the drawings, but most of them did submit um I'll this type of information in their their glossy reports. So So I hope everybody's still awake because So here it this is important I had a couple of we had a couple of libraries that didn't even sign the backup commitment page It's at the very at the very last page. We're at the end of the rfp But um, you need to be sure that this is signed also And I think basically that closes me out for information about the rfp. Are there any Questions, I know this was really difficult to understand it'd be much easier when you have it in hand to look at it And it will be updated and given to you on wednesday um I think the important part for you to focus on focus on is the key individuals that you put in place in the rfp As responsible one of them is who signs the contract and I um I think that's important that you figure that out They some library directors took the responsibility and signed it And others had somebody in in their city officials do that and the calendar. I mean I'm willing to sit down and go over that with you for your calendar of events to make sure that it It it hangs together and it you know, it will pass scrutiny for bidding Please call me and and let me take a look at it with you and and see Otherwise, I I think that's it any questions Now see anybody have any questions about the rfp right now Um, you may not and like as sally said until you get it in hand, which next week She'll be sending you the the draft the template version of this So that you can pour over it your leisure If you have any questions Unmute yourself And ask your question I would like to just say what you need to look at is the network. Nebraska procurement rfp. That's how many pages long Combines like over 40 pages. So so far. We've got requests from piggy and tanya I'll send those out to you right after this meeting this afternoon anyone else on the call today's webinar It's all public documentation. I'm happy to share that with you While you're trying to decide do I go this pathway this pathway or both? Um, no problem with us sharing that and it gives you You know all the legal terms and conditions or companies are being held to On behalf of anyone who's in our rfp I again, I I encourage you to do both. Please We we are here to help you. Um, tom is a great consultant I wouldn't call him first related to if you're doing your own library individual rfp But if you feel you need to then I guess I know he'll accept it and he'd be gracious and and talk to you But it would probably be christa or myself that you would want to visit with and primarily me with the rfp Or if you're looking at category two and equipment and um, but I think christa could probably answer some of those questions, too And erate is all hers. So I I'm gonna be able to answer a question, but that's it Doesn't look like anybody has any questions about it right now All right, thank you All right, I'm gonna pull back presenter control to my screen again There it goes and what I am going to do now is I'm going to show you the first form in the There we go erate process. Uh, the first one you will be submitting after you have your rfp ready This is key. You're gonna need to do the rfp first and have it ready to upload and include when you submit this 470 which is the first form in the erate process So you do that first and then we'll do you'll do this But I am going to show you here just a step by step screenshots of what it will look like Just so you can see in a demo what you will be encountering when we do when you are Ready to do this if you've never done one before if you want assistance I can help you with it I helped many libraries Doing actually and I mentioned this on monday to doing a go-to-webinar session Just like this where I set up a session just for us just for me and you and you share your screen And I can see exactly what you're doing guide you through the whole form step by step I spent hours and hours on online with libraries. Um, they have our libraries. How can we do that? That's my job to make sure you get the form submitted So just a reminder from monday. This is done through epic the erate productivity center And that's the main url to get to it Um, and we have a lot of training and other things. Yes Sorry, yeah No, okay A lot of training and videos just reminded to for you to see how this is done as well In addition to what I'm going to show you right now, which is my screenshots of How to go through the process So this form that you're submitting is called the 470 It's the first form in the erate process where you are describing the services you're looking for And this is the official name for it description of services requested and certification This opens up that competitive bidding process officially Of will for when and then the companies will reach out to you. Um, and you just let them know everything you need A lot of this detail will be in your rfp You'll notice that you know We've got this big rfp with because this is a big construction project potentially lots of detail needed The 470 itself does not give you a lot of spots to detail all of that out that holly just showed you That's why you do that extra document Then you do the 470 to officially submit it into erate for their discount of funding So once you have logged into your um epic account On your main landing page when you first get logged in I showed you how to do that on monday's session So look for that one Right at the top here is links to all the different forms in the process We're just going to look at the 470 today. So you just click on fcc form 470 And it brings you right into It bringing in your library's information basic info and the first thing you do is give it a nickname you name this particular form Basically, just something for you to track it and know which one it is Especially when you're doing erate erate funding years And paperwork and forms you need to do will cross each other in time timeline Timewise you may be working on things for 2021 at the same time as you're doing 2022 And you need to be able to track which one is which so you give it a nickname just to help you track it I will also mention here as I'm going through these screenshots. You'll notice it says here funding year 2021 at the top Because these are the the beginning of this is screenshots. I took when we did this last year Most of the form is still the same. I just went through this the whole form yesterday to test to check it all There will be um farther on they'll be one they have updated some of the form For 2022 so um, we'll see when we get to those screenshots that this will change just saying is funding year 2022 And those are the think parts that are different this year Ideally it's supposed to make it easier Less confusing We'll see how it goes test But don't worry about that. It says 2021 and you're actually applying for 2022 This is exactly what it looks like still for this year So you give yourself a form a nickname Something also to be aware of there is this discard form button here If you decide that the form you've done something wrong or you want to start over or um You got distracted and and you know Went off and you want to do a new one. This is where you can discard a form There's a section up here at the top of your screen called tasks Whenever you start a form as soon as you get to this screen it immediately has created this as you're working on a form You haven't even put any information in it all yet It's already tracking that you have one in here and it will start nudging you Repeatedly like once a week with an email the system will say hey, you have this form to work on you have this form to work on If you've actually decided that wasn't the good form. I've started a whole second one that is correct You want to stop getting those reminders? You can just go into it in your tasks and discard it That's deleting and get rid of the form so you don't have those reminders to keep coming to you So you can always clean up that task section Over on the right here. You've got save and share or save and continue Always use save and continue save and share is mainly for larger organizations that have multiple people who handle their e-rate One person does the form someone else is allowed to submit it and officially sign off on it Doesn't apply to any of any of you guys when you're just doing sign your own so you just do save and continue Next screen is just confirmation of your library You're a library your public library. There is this build entity number. I mentioned that on monday That's the number that is specific to your library that sometimes E-rate will ask about You can see you've also got your discard form here button that will be throughout the whole thing and starting now You have a back button too. So if you get farther along the form realize you did something wrong You need to change something you always can go back back back And save and continue on a next screen Consultants consultants. There are companies you can hire to help you do your application. That's also for big systems big library systems You don't pay me to help you with this. So that's not me Oh, I have a question if the build entity email is wrong, how do you fix it? If the email address is wrong, I can actually the this depending it depends If the email is okay So the email that is going that you certainly currently in your e-rate account is not the correct one What we would do is set up a New user in the library's account and then switch control to that new user To log in to the epic your email address is your login But you can have multiple people in the library's account multiple profile individuals And we just need to create a whole second thing second person And then we'll switch the administrator control to that person If you yours is Not doing what it's supposed to Tanya let mom shoot me an email and I will help you work on making sure we get that Switch and going to the right person All right, so uh, we do hear then say are you the main contact person? Yes or no generally. Yes, it's you submitting the form and as soon as you click yes, it automatically pops in your um Name email and phone number Also notice the top here We now have a bar that's going to move along the top here showing you where you are in the form step by step So you can see how you're progressing through the form So just confirm you the contact save and continue And uh, this is where you can choose What type of service we are going to be requesting in on a 470 you can do a category one Just for your basic internet category two all that equipment That you may need to update or you can do a 470 that covers both For this i'm going to show you doing both because we're going to do a little of each To do Fiber special construction and i'll also clarify here right now to this particular demo I'm doing right here now is specifically for doing special construction Application and so i'm going to be talking about it all and related to that I do a general e-rate training later in the fall That will have a more generic kind of demo as well So if you also attend that one at some point you'll notice that it's going to have some different Instructions this one. I am focusing on what you All need to know for doing our fiber special construction So we're going to do both we've checked both of these boxes and we save and continue Um, is there an rfp? Yes, that's exactly what we're trying to do here So we say yes, and then this is where you upload your rfp So you have to have that document done and ready to go all the specifics filled out for your library Based on that template that holly's going to send to you and work with you on You can click on the upload button And then it will open up wherever you have documents on your computer And you can then choose that click on it Click on open and it dumps it pops it right into there You can also do a drag and drop. You see it says drop file here was there as well So um, if you already know where it is, you can just separately open up Wherever the folder is that you have it and click and drag it over there If you've ever done that with anything either way, whichever works for you just to get the rfp in your 470 and then save and continue Let's see who's there and then on the next screen. They want to know what What categories are is this rfp going to apply for apply to And we're going to have it be for both because this is going to be for both our monthly If it's talking about that and any of our equipment may be listed in there So we check both those boxes so that it can be used when we go on and talk about the specifics that we want to ask for And save and continue and now you can see I'm going out here at the top. It has changed to fund the year 2022 This is where they've changed how the form works from last year's application It's similar, but the idea was to Take you more through a step by step and showing you what the options are every time Previously is a little more kind of hidden. Which one am I supposed to use for what? But I kind of like the new way. We'll see how it works in real practice Yeah So we're going to add what they call service requests You're asking for requesting e-rate discount on particular service service being the construction the monthly internet cost And service also being equipment. They just use that same term There's a box down here with a narrative where you can provide further detail as it says and it gives some examples now of Any reason why some might be disqualified from applying if they miss a deadline like what we were talking about in the rfp details and everything As you saw the document that holly showed you don't really want to enter all of that into this box here That's how we attach this separate document All we'll put in here in the narrative is just crfp Because that's much easier. We've got it all in there Um, but to add your particular items to this 470 what you want to get a discount on you click on the blue add new service request And then it gives you two types of options. You're seeking bids for internet access and or data transmission Or network equipment or maintenance operations under category one. We're going to do the bids for internet access So this is um the fiber or You're Basic what you do and when you click on that it will open up a different new menu of of sub sections So you can dig down and specifically talk about what kind of internet access So because we've checked that first box. I seek bids for internet This is what comes up if we did I seek bids for category one. It would different lists would come up And we are going to start with the top one which is for a data transmission. So basically any kind of um Transmission that you can see here fiber is mentioned in here. Um, they've got them all kind of um Bundled don't not like use the word bundled gather together in one Um category whether you're doing fiber non fiber dsl copper satellite Whatever way you're going to be getting it. They just have it as one choice You know, we are of course looking for the fiber option, but that's one that we chose choose And then it opens up a new choice Are you looking for um internet access whether offered by one service provider or as a bundled package? offered by one or more Or data plans or wireless adapters air cards as the two different types of internet connection Data plans and air cards you can see here It's specifically only if you do not have an existing broadband connection So that's only for very special cases where broadband is not available. You can use data plans and air cards so Doesn't usually come up because generally some sort of broadband is available in your community Some of you have the reason we're going for fiber right now is it's broadband, but it's not that great So we are choosing the top option for broadband And then it will open up the information below where you put in your specifics about what you are looking for quantity Is um, how many internet connections do you want to your building? number of entities this all is um, how many The locations is there for all of you. It's a single library location. So it's just one It makes more sense when there's multiple ones when you've got like a school district with multiple schools They would have like three locations And then you need to put in what you are requesting for minimum and maximum speed And if you want installation activation and initial configuration, which of course we do because we're getting something new So on the next thing here, I've entered in the information.  Yes, you would please we would like somebody to come and install it And then our capacity here. I've got a minimum and this is just For example, minimum 25 megabits per second at maximum one gig Um, I don't know if we got anybody that got up to that much Tom or holly, do you know when we did last year? Did anybody get up to a gig from any of these providers We um, we have one who did Yeah, okay, so and we'll we'll reveal shortly Everybody else Is the maximum capacity here can go up far higher than one gig if you when you open up that but those pull them those menus there You'll see it goes up to I don't know 100. I can't remember what the maximum is, but it's it's crazy high Um, is one you think be the highest we should we need to put in or should we recommend higher? Um, I think we have some that are above a gig. Yeah, the one that we'll be talking about Yeah Yeah, the other rural libraries 100 to 500 over the term of this contract Probably be very appropriate three years. Yeah, they'll be growing into 500 megabytes. Yeah Yeah, because I'm in there also the the contract listed as The different layout Speed so they can have it scalable they can ask for it to go up. Yeah, this is only the min and the max And then the cost cost proposal will have other increments possible Everything in between. Yeah, and that's the one thing important about the 472 is this is kind of like your wishlist You don't want to limit yourself. You want to give yourself as much wiggle room as possible So even though as we said most of our libraries were getting the 100 to 500 megabits Say you're looking for up to one gig. You never know. It might be out there. You might get it as one do But something higher it doesn't matter as long as what you end up with falls between these two minimum and maximums You're good for e-rate. So think big here and then in the end you'll We'll put in when we do you get your contract with the company what they ended up with giving you And you can see here it also does default checking here is the rfp that applies Which was that rfp that we submitted and then If you say in here, you've got something new save and create another request or save request If you save and create another it just makes a duplicate of this one So you don't want to do that. You want to do save request And when you do save request Pops you back to that screen restart that and now we've got a little table started here with the particular item That we just entered with all the basics Now i'm going to add another one that will add our least lit fiber and dark fiber Which we know dark not a lot of that available, but this is where you Want to make sure you put this in as an option as a request as well So you have all your bases covered for what type of connection you might get So um, we're still doing the internet access or data transmission, but we are choosing the Third option purchase data transmission service only that does not include internet access And that's okay because we've got that on the other request and you see here It is talking about the dark fiber strands or capacity over a least lit network So this is where you grab those as you put those in here for as a potential connection And you see this is a little different. Sorry. It's kind of tiny when I just show you the whole page here But it's very similar to that first one. How many connections do you want for each one? What your capacity is? It's all the same entities served. It's just there's your dark. There's your lit um Lit and you fill these in the same way you want one connection I did the same 25 and one so you just do the same as you did in the previous one, but just for this Of the lit and dark or dark and lit fiber You never entity serve just down here They just kind of rearrange where the same question is just rearranged a little bit And yes, we would like somebody to please install it. Thank you And um your rfp is automatically included So let me save this request and then there you'll see because we had two things that kind of it added two items to our category one up there So there we've kind of put in every a request for every type of connection we might possibly have Quotes sent to us about and then down here in the narrative Just to make sure they really know even though it says here we've associated the request for proposals and they're attached in there just to you know Put the push the point home see rfp and the narrative as well So they know it's in there. I attached an rfp Look at that for all the details Uh, uh, generally we're not doing installment payment plans for this since we're getting a e-rate discount and public service commission monies So you would say no, we're not looking for an installment payment plan. You do have to answer that question um, and then here we save and continue And now because we had checked both category one and category two that we were going to be applying for That gives us the option to start our category two Uh, and this is for all that equipment works similar the same way to category one add a new service request But now this talks about it's for equipment or for the basic basic maintenance on that equipment And then um the operations that having someone the company do this all for you So we're going to start with the equipment you might do And then there's going to be this is for your internal connections what I call it everything physically in the building that makes the internet work and there's this big pull Pop-up menu that lists all those different things that was mentioned on the rfp that um Holly showed your antennas your cabling firewall racks Routers switches et cetera et cetera So all those same things that are in your rfp you have to specifically in the 470 also itemize them out here to let E-rate know within their system. These are the individual things we would like an e-rate discount on So I chose cabling as this first example How many feet of cable you need? I don't know if a thousand is a good number. I just do that as Guess you would find out From talking to someone how many feet of cable we need There's a manufacturer choice. You do not have to choose a manufacturer or specify one. You can just say whoever But if you know the specific one or if you're you've heard from your company You might be working with we like to work with this one that you can choose Know it says whatever company name or equivalent when you open up this pull down It's going to always say or equivalent or equivalent Because you don't want to limit To just we can only get three come because then if they decide for some reason, you know Six months from now when they actually do the construction.  You don't get the e-rate. That's how specific it can be. So by default It doesn't even let you do that. It always says or equivalent You're one entity. Yes. We want someone to install our cables. Yep. Here's the rfp is attached Now something new they added here, which I love An extra new box here. Please select this option if you'd like to create an accompanying category two basic maintenance of internal connections That's that bm ic request for this internal connections request basic maintenance and the equipment itself and the basic maintenance of this of it, which is the Installing it doing upgrades System updates whatever you need to do is a separate request And many times people forgot and never did that second part And then we're not able to get an e-rate discount when someone had to come in and do You know a year from now Oh, we have to replace the cable because unfortunately. Yes a squirrel did chew through it Um, and they forgot so now they made it a little box here automatically check that And it just fills in for you everything you put in the top part about your equipment And then it's automatically created a request for that and you'll see here now when I hit save request Didn't just put one item in there it put two The cable itself and the basic maintenance of that cable all in one shot Love that Um Now we have other equipment we're going to ask for as you saw on the rfp Your switches your wireless access points, etc, etc And you just go I'm not going to show doing every single one of those right now But you do the same process for each one of them just choosing them from that list of equipment adding a new service request Putting it in adding a new service request back and forth back and forth. So you have them all listed Here I can I show you where I've done that for our routers Wireless access points three routes access points and switches and you just keep going to have them all listed here As you can see I added basic maintenance for all of them as well to make sure to just go back and forth back and forth They got them all there Double check just make sure you add here crfp again down at the bottom And then we save and continue Um, and now we're back to the 2021. So that was the big changes with how you add all that in I think it's a lot slicker and easier Uh, if you have a technical contact person you want to tell them talk to them instead of me About all the technical parts you can put that in here if it's just you you could say no But if you do have someone you can say yes and you can um If they don't need their own epic account They probably don't you can enter their details manually And just put in their name phone number and email address so that they know I don't know as a library director all the techie stuff, but luke who's my tech guy. He knows Save and continue Are there any state or local requirements you'd have to know that if there are any and say yes or no for this demo here I just said no And now instead of saving continue We've entered all of the information into the form and we can now review our form for 70 When you click that button It just says when it's ready a task will become available to complete your certification That's signing off on this form and that's up here in your tasks So what it's doing now is it is sending this information to usat to their servers and creating all that information to a form and giving you a PDF that you can look at this can take a few minutes And I mean minutes like two three, you know 60 seconds 120 seconds You may have to wait till you see something come up in your tasks Click up here in the blue box on tasks and see if there is something here Most likely the first time you do that you won't see anything And you just got to wait refresh your page maybe hit tasks again It does take some actual time for that to process to go through But eventually you will have something that says certify fcc form for 70 And I'll mention here while I'm showing this these here that say create and create These are forms that I have started but never finished These are the ones that are kind of floating around there and they keep reminding me of and I want to go in and do that Discard form button to clear them out because I don't really need them anymore This is my top one that I want to certify is my good for 70. This other for 70 was when I started and did wrong gave up on So what you will do is click on the one to certify And there will be a link here that you can click on to open up pdf You know, it's over here on the right right now. There is a continue to certification button But it's not dark blue like our buttons have been before That's because you have to check in this box to certify that the pdf is correct Um, you don't have to look at the pdf. You don't want to but if you'd like to double check your work You can if you click on it, it just opens it up and then whatever you use. This is my dobby acrobat So it's the same information. I entered just in a pdf version Basic information by the library Followed by our category one requests Then our category two requests Our entity information technical contact all that is there You can to save and print this out if you want to but I don't recommend doing that right now After the form is totally submitted and certified. You can get a final version of it Showing the actual date and time you actually submitted. So that's the final one you want This is just to look at on your screen and make sure everything looks okay You'll notice you got your back button if something does need to be changed You can still go back and then change it if you want to But we're happy with it. We check the box and we continue to certification You do not send for certification even though it sounds like that would make sense That's another thing where it sends it to someone else who would be in your account for bigger organizations of multiple people working on e-rate Not what we're doing here. You're doing all of this. So you continue the certification do it yourself It confirms. Are you sure you want to do that? Once you do this, you can't go back and change anything And these are your certifications. That's so you can see the whole thing. Yeah, it's huge But i'm going to zoom in here. So you can see there's just all these little boxes This is all the legalese you have to agree to You can you feel free to read through it all if you want to it just says you are allowed your Authorize to do this. You're going to follow all the rules, etc, etc You have to check every single box here You'll notice here also behind the screen here the there's a blue certified button at the lower right It's kind of grayed out light blue right now until you check all those boxes Then it turns dark blue and you can actually click on it So you've got to check every single box click the blue button Then it pops up with this cut the scary confirmation Fault statements on this form may result in civil liability under a criminal prosecution Don't do anything illegal So you say yes, you do want to submit it and then it's done. It is submitted Now if you want to double check and make sure it's gone through back on your Landing page when you first log in at the very bottom you scroll down and I showed you this on monday too There's the area where you can look up your forms that you've submitted anything It goes back. You can actually look back as far as 2016 in a year. So you just choose the form type Funding year and it will bring up the different ones you have here You can see I've got it in my incomplete one But once it's certified it will say certified it as the status and that you know it's done It's actually been received at Usac at erate you can click on the blue nickname the number here to open up The full form if you want to you can print this out You can also through there get a pdf of it. They originally have like I said the final pdf which actually shows The date and time that you submitted if you want your own paper version of this You will also receive an email Note in your well a notification in