The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (“IURC”) is inviting Requests for Proposals to serve as the third-party administrator of the Indiana Universal Service Fund for the period of December 14, 2007 through December 31, 2008 with a possible two-year extension through December 31, 2010 in accordance with our Request for Proposal (“RFP”). Proposals must be submitted in five copies to RFP for IUSF Administrator, c/o Presiding Officer Scott R. Storms, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, 101 West Washington Street, Suite 1500-E, Indianapolis, IN 46204, no later than 4:45 p.m. on October 8, 2007. Late proposals will not be considered. All questions should be in written form submitted to the above-referenced address or by e-mail (with subject line "IUSF RFP Question") to sstorms@urc.in.gov no later than September 17, 2007. All Bidders will be provided with answers to questions asked by any one Bidder as the questions are received by the Commission and posted to the IURC’s website at http://www.state.in.us/iurc.
The IUSF was established under Docket No. 42144. The purpose of the IUSF is to implement a competitively neutral funding mechanism that promotes universal telecommunications service to all Indiana residents by ensuring availability to basic telecommunications service at just, reasonable and affordable rates that are reasonably comparable between urban and rural areas of Indiana. The administrator is responsible for, among other things, collecting pro rata contributions based on telecommunications service providers' intrastate end-user telecommunications retail revenues, at a rate set by the IURC, and depositing these revenues into the USF. The administrator will also distribute money from the USF once a month to approximately 37 rural telephone carriers. Additional information about the Fund can be found in the RFP.