With eight years of experience in the E-rate program our consultants have gained some insight that you may find helpful in facing the current cycle of the program. You may find that the problems that you face are similar to what others are facing as well.

E-rate insight

First, we have found that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to reap the advantage of the E-rate program without staff dedicated to the task. By now most districts possess all the skills necessary to engage the design and procurement process and to make their application to the SLD. What is usually lacking is attention to the deadlines and a go-to source for necessary information.

Second, while every district has a technology plan, few actually have a strategic component that coordinates and guides the overall implementation of technology systems and information services. This is not much of an issue when funds are used for cabling, but as districts rebuild networks and implement new technologies like layer five switching or IP telephony, it is critical to know where one is going before starting out. This is made acute by the new two-in-five rule.

Third, effective project management is usually what determines the success of an implementation. Few districts realize that systems implementation is a joint venture between themselves and the contractor or vendor doing the work. Effective project management is not just tracking progress and noting discrepancies, it is clearly understanding roles and responsibilities and working to resolve problems before they happen.

Fourth, funding is always a critical issue for districts and as systems are built out it is becoming more difficult to maximize E-rate program advantages without jeopardizing compliance and future eligibility. Resolving this issue often requires an understanding of finance in addition to changes in internal accounting practice so that funds may be shifted to where they are needed.

Staffing

Depending on the size of your district, it may not be necessary to dedicate someone full-time to the task of E-rate but it is critical that one person be responsible for the district's interaction with vendors and the SLD. This role can easily expand beyond compliance to include project management and possibly design.

The most important qualification for this person is the organizational skills to effectively capture, store and retrieve information as needed. Because program compliance is woven into district processes and delivery of the service or the progress of the work, a comprehensive perspective is required. This perspective is best supported by a foundation in project management theory and practice. Many of the districts that we work with have implemented a project management office to formalize the accomplishment of all aspects of this issue using best-practice methodologies.

Strategy

Development of a strategic plan for technology is contingent on the prevailing attitude about several key issues. These include the ability of the district to accommodate change, the desire to integrate technology into learning and administrative processes, and the understanding to achieve increases in efficiency or capability through the use of technology.

The strategic plan begins with a comprehensive definition of the educational means and methods envisioned for the future. These include administrative tools and processes and operational functions to support such things as security and transportation, in addition to teaching methodologies and curriculum. Functional requirements are then condensed out of this larger view and used to establish capabilities of the technology. System architectures are then developed that deliver the necessary functions.

One of the most critical components of the strategic plan is a realistic gap analysis between the envisioned technology and existing systems. This, in combination with an estimate of implementation cost, is used to develop a timeline with reasonable milestones based on funding projections. This timeline defines the requirements for systems implementation in the current year and subsequent years. This timeline should also account for E-rate limitations on systems deployment. Finally, a complete return on investment assessment is used to motivate and guide the decisions required to meet the strategic objectives.

Management

Project management can be informal or comprehensive. It can use sophisticated technology tools or be accomplished with pencil and paper. While diverse in scope and function, it is critically important that some form of project management be engaged to organize the deployment process. As surprising as it may be, something as fundamental as knowing when a project is complete is one of the primary causes for tension between owners and their contractors.

The principles of effective project management are straightforward and relatively simple: craft a realistic plan, carefully track progress and act quickly to resolve discrepancies. As we all know, that is easier said than done, however, it is the opinion of many highly skilled project managers that a project usually fails before it begins due to defective planning. The scope of some element of the work is not adequately considered, contingent elements are not completely identified or the capabilities of resources are not accurately assessed.

If due care is used to build the plan the next step toward success is diligently and accurately tracking progress. One critical aspect of tracking is knowing the optimum metric to measure progress, whether it is money, milestones or minutes. The plan should be developed so that the metric is evaluated sufficiently often to quickly flag a problem. Watch for watching the wrong metric. Cashflow that is not increasing as planned may seem good, but it could indicate that work is falling behind. In any case, responding rapidly and effectively to quantify the discrepancy, identify the cause and engage remedial measures is the critical final step toward success.

Funding

When properly applied, technology will either reduce operating costs or increase functional capabilities. In either case, there is value that can offset cost, the trick is to determine where the value lies and how it is expressed. If the value can be expressed in money, it is then necessary to discover how to directly balance cost against this newfound value. If the value is from intangible benefits, such as improved learning, there may be other streams of expense that can be reduced.

With the leverage gained from the E-rate program, the value equation becomes skewed because the direct cost to the district is not the total cost of the service or system, but the amount remaining after the subsidy is applied. In some cases this may still be a challenge, but one reduced by the factor of the subsidy, which may be substantial. In addition, funds saved in services can be applied to systems implementation. This may require shifting funds from operating to capital accounts, where the impediment may be procedure and policy.

Success

The challenge may be formidable, but success is based on these factors:
• Build a strategic plan to align the needs and vision of the district with the advantages of the E-rate program
• Coordinate internal procurement requirements and E-Rate regulations to establish the timeline and critical deadlines
• Discover and maximize every possible means to reduce cost while sustaining or improving services and systems
• Consolidate multiple RFPs for a consistent advertisement for valid and comparable responses
• Mobilize disparate departments and objectives into a coherent team.

Benefits

The primary benefit to the students, teachers and administrators of your schools will be expanded services and upgraded systems that can be realized through reduced cost for necessary services and systems already being delivered to your district. We estimate that our consultants have helped districts recover subsidies of more than $29 million in the last three years alone that was made available for reallocation to support critical initiatives while the original capabilities were expanded or upgraded to meet future needs.

The final terms of the return on investment are now complete. By knowing values and benefits in addition to cost, it is possible to drive new services and systems implementation from a strategic perspective.

Our consultants have been involved in E-rate planning and procurement efforts since the beginning of the program and have netted districts more than $200 million in requested subsidy for over $340 million in services and systems procurement.

Even late in the process we have been successful in our efforts to jump-start the E-Rate procurement process and make up for lost time. We understand how to compress the procurement process into an ever-shrinking calendar while still accomplishing the necessary checks and balances required by districts for procurements of this magnitude.

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