June 11, 2021

TIP OF THE WEEK: June 25, 2021, is the last day to invoice for Funding Year 2019 recurring services for Funding Request Numbers (FRNs) with an extended invoicing deadline. Applicants and service providers who have not completed invoicing USAC for these services should do so as soon as possible.

Commitments for Funding Year (FY) 2021 and FY2020

FY2021. USAC released FY2021 Wave 9 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on June 10. As of June 11, FY2021 commitments total over $1.30 billion.

FY2020. USAC released FY2020 Wave 58 FCDLs on June 9. As of June 11, FY2020 commitments total over $2.39 billion.

On the date that USAC issues FCDLs, you can access your FCDL notification from the Notifications section of your landing page in the E-Rate Productivity Center (EPC).

Update on Removal of BEAR PIN Requirement

Next month, USAC will remove the requirement for applicants to use a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to access the FCC Form 472 (Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) Form). We refer to our new system for granting access to the BEAR Form as the BEAR Access Tool. This is an internal tool that will process requests for BEAR Form access more efficiently, communicate our decisions more quickly, and also eliminate the need to maintain a record of a USAC-issued PIN.

BEAR Form filers will still access the form in One Portal, USAC's multi-factor authentication (MFA) platform. After we deploy the new BEAR Access Tool, BEAR Form filers who choose the BEAR Form option on their One Portal dashboard will be able to access the BEAR Form login screen, enter their Billed Entity Number (BEN), and then go directly to the BEAR Form.

We will transfer the login credentials for current BEAR Form filers to the new BEAR Access Tool. For most BEAR Form filers, this means that you will not need to take any action in advance of the deployment to have access to BEAR Forms for all your current BENs.

• Note, however, that BEAR Form filers who currently log in to the BEAR Form with an email address that is different from their One Portal email address (their One Portal username) will need to request BEAR Form access under their One Portal username. We will send a notice next week with more information to all of these email addresses that appear in the current BEAR system but not in One Portal.

After we deploy the BEAR Access Tool, users who need to file a BEAR Form for a BEN they do not already have access to will request that access by completing a request template and attaching it to a customer service case in EPC as they do now. However, we will be able to process their request and communicate the result more quickly – and there will be no PIN to remember.

We will continue to provide regular updates on this change until it is deployed.

EPC Deployment News

Last weekend, we deployed the following changes to EPC:

FCC Form 486

When the request to certify a Funding Request Number (FRN) on the FCC Form 486 is canceled, the applicant can now resubmit that FRN on a new FCC Form 486.

Commitment adjustments

The first, second, and final demand payment letters now reflect a surcharge of 30 percent (an increase from 28 percent) based on the latest guidance from the U.S. Treasury.

Searches on the EPC Records tab

Applicants and consultants can now limit searches to program forms and requests located under the Records tab that were filed by their organization. Applicants who choose Yes under the filter "Filed by My Organization?" will only see forms and requests filed by their organization; consultants who choose Yes will see forms and requests filed by their clients.

We have also added a note about this enhancement – which was a recommendation from an external user submitted through our system feedback form – to the User Experience-Related System Enhancements page on the USAC website.