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As part of our ongoing network improvement process, additional wireless access points are sought for WES and SIMS Academy, and additional maintenance/support for existing district wireless access infrastructure is sought as well.

An RFP was posted, and 4 vendors responded.

Low cost vendor Howard Technology submitted a response that did not include all elements requested in the RFP, and proposed alternative product lines that do not readily integrate into our existing infrastructure.

Next low bid respondent MXN of Woodstock, GA met all the terms of the RFP, has done similar business with the district previously, and is not adversely listed with sam.gov.

Vendor	Location	Cost
Howard Technology	Laurel, MS	$53,530.00
MXN	Woodstock, GA	$148,189.40
Frontier Business Edge	Norwalk, CT	$148,897.72
SHI	Somerset, NJ	$173,181.49

FUNDING EXPLANATION
We have applied for federal e-rate funds to cover a substantial portion of the costs of this upgrade. If approved by the e-rate program, we expect to receive 80% funding ($118,551.52), leaving 20% ($29,637.88) for us to cover out of district funds.

A funding decision from the e-rate program is expected to be given to us somewhere between July 1 2018 and June 30, 2019. Typically we receive word in the first 3 months of the fiscal year.

E-rate funding amounts are tied to our district's free and reduced lunch count, so may vary to a small degree if/when funded next year. If district's out of pocket responsibility exceeds expected funding level by more than 2% we will bring this proposal back to the board for final approval before proceeding. If district out of pocket expenses are within or less than 2% of expected amounts listed above, we will proceed with the work without returning to the board once e-rate funding is approved.