The Department of Administration (DOA) has negotiated and signed a 5-year contract extension with AT&T to extend the BadgerNet Converged Network (BCN) contract to November 1, 2016.  TEACH Wisconsin is able to offer increased bandwidth under its cost sharing program as well as reduced retail (contract) rates for educational institutions that need more capacity than can be subsidized within the TEACH budget.

The initial TEACH focus is to reach out to the 1000+ current sites and let them know that TEACH is beginning the process of implementing the new terms of the contract with AT&T and the other telcos.  The first step in this process is to gather all TEACH subsidized service upgrade requests.

To request changes to your site, please carefully review and follow the instructions in the TEACH Guidelines.  As part of this request process, please email current usage statistics from your site to TEACH@wisconsin.gov

Timeline

	All orders will fall into three basic categories: 1 – Service upgrades (such as bandwidth increases) that can be processed remotely by the BCN Network Management Center (NMC). 2 – Telco changes are required including procuring equipment, supplies or services from 3rd party vendors who may or may not have scheduling issues of their own. 3 – Fiber construction is required and a cost quote is needed before the upgrade can begin.  Under new terms in the contract: If cost is <= $35,000 a quote will be provided to TEACH but the Telco is responsible for all costs. If cost is > $35,000 a quote will be provided to TEACH/site for review.  The Telco is responsible for costs <=$35,000 and TEACH or the site is responsible for the amount >$35,000.
Beginning November 4	Existing customers should carefully review and follow the instructions in the TEACH Guidelines and begin to place Service Change Request orders (preferably via the new online TEACH portal, rather than paper form).  TEACH will review and approve every request before being sent to AT&T for processing.  AT&T will review and process orders as they are received. Category 1 and 2 sites will be assigned due dates (which require a minimum of 10 business days).  Sites will receive status update emails as the order is processed.    If your site previously submitted a request, please review to ensure that it follows the TEACH guidelines, then resubmit your request (preferably via the new online TEACH portal, rather than the paper form).   TEACH will accept requests for new sites but approval is not guaranteed.  As always, approval will be based on need and the availability of TEACH funds.
Beginning November 21	TEACH will begin to contact sites that have not placed any Service Change Request orders for existing sites and will also begin to contact customers that previously submitted applications for new sites.
On-going	TEACH and AT&T will continue to process Service Change Request orders. Sites will continue to receive status update emails as the order is processed.
No later than December 16, 2011	A review of the services installed at every TEACH site has been completed and orders have been submitted if needed.  This deadline is needed to meet the E-rate schedule for Funding Year 2012.
No later than January 13, 2012	Changes to category 1 and 2 sites will either be completed or have a scheduled due date.  Every category 3 site, depending upon the construction costs, will either have a quote and a tentative due date (if under $35,000) or a quote has been provided to TEACH and the site.   For new site requests, TEACH will evaluate each request based on need and budget and notify each site.

Thank you again for your continued patience as we process all of the TEACH Service Change Requests.