On December 13, 2018, the Schools, Health, Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB), the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and the State E-rate Coordinators Alliance (SECA) filed a joint letter to the FCC seeking immediate clarification of how USAC is interpreting product demonstrations as part of the gift rules. Earlier this year USAC updated its website and changed their guidance that product demonstrations would be prohibited, but in recent trainings have backed away from the content that is currently on their website.
SHLB, CoSN and SECA believe that not only should product demonstrations be acceptable per FCC Orders, but can also play an important role to help districts better understand the types of eligible solutions that could benefit them. These stakeholders are asking the FCC to direct USAC to have appropriate gift rule content on their website and should urge USAC to provide consistent information to stakeholders regarding this important issue.
The FCC joint letter can be viewed here.
