La. Admin. Code tit. 4 § XXI-503

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section XXI-503 - Protests

A. The protest process shall be conducted in accordance with R.S. 51:2370.4(C) and 2370.5, as well as this Chapter. The protest period shall not exceed 30 days following the announcement of awards.

B. Following an announcement of awards, any aggrieved party may submit a protest of any award, specific to whether a location or area is served or unserved by broadband service, which shall be the sole reason allowable for the submission of a protest. Also qualifying as served for the purposes of a protest are those locations or areas where construction of broadband infrastructure will begin within either 24 months as the result of public funding or 20 months as the result of private funding, respectively, as described in §201 of this Part and defined within the GUMBO grant program. Protests shall be submitted in writing in a manner determined by the office, and all protests shall be accompanied by all relevant supporting documentation.

C. Protests shall contain all relevant supporting documentation, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. a signed and notarized affidavit affirming the protest and attached information are true;

2. current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reporting;

3. maximum speeds available in the proposed project area;

4. number of serviceable locations within the protested area, including the maximum speeds those serviceable locations are able to receive, and the technology used to deliver such transmission speeds;

5. street-level data of customers receiving service within the protested area, including speed test data;

6. referencing the data submitted by the applicant, shapefiles in GIS or kml file format, with accompanying excel and/or attribute table data including individual addresses, longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates, and any specific geolocator number or other specific identifier assigned by the federal government to location, that show each protested passing in the protested area, designated by a singular mapped point;

7. if applicable, heat maps indicating received signal strength indicator (RSSI) in the challenged area.

D. Upon the close of the application period, a blackout period shall be instituted. This blackout period shall remain in effect until an announcement of awards. During this blackout period, neither a protesting party nor an applicant shall initiate contact with the office, except as provided by this Section. The office reserves the right to initiate contact with a protesting party or applicant to seek clarification of an application, a protest, the data contained therein, or to request additional information.

E. Should a protest be granted in any manner, the office shall work with an awardee to amend an awarded application to reduce the number of unserved prospective broadband recipients and re-scope the awarded application. The office shall revise awarded application scores in accordance with amended data and information. Should an awarded application be amended as a result of a granted protest, it is possible that the revised score would subject such an awarded application to the removal of its priority status for an award. As a result of a granted protest and a reduction in the number of unserved prospective broadband recipients, an awardee shall also have the option to withdraw its awarded application.

F. Any applicant or protesting party receiving access to any other provider's proprietary or confidential information, through the required processes of the grant program and as defined within R.S. 51:2370-2370.16 and this Part and subject to confidential protection, shall not disclose such information to any other third party.

La. Admin. Code tit. 4, § XXI-503

Promulgated by the Office of the Governor, Division of Administration, Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity, LR 48, Amended LR 49

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 51:2370-2370.16.