E-Rate News Brief

December 15, 2022

E-RATE TIPS:
 
•  The FCC released the Funding Year (FY) 2023 Eligible Services List (ESL) on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.   You can review the 2023 ESL on the Eligible Services List page on the USAC website to learn which services are eligible for E-Rate discounts for the upcoming funding year. Register HERE for the FY2023 E-Rate Eligible Services Webinar being held on Thursday, January 5, 2023.

•  Don't forget to update your E-Rate Productivity Center (EPC) profiles. All applicants can now review their profiles and make any additional updates for changes that occurred after USAC's review of their Funding Year (FY) 2022 FCC Forms 471. As in the past, the EPC administrative window to update profiles will close – and the applicant profiles will be locked – shortly before the FY 2023 application filing window opens.

•  Applicants/Service Providers: Review Your Invoicing Permissions.  USAC migrated an entity’s existing invoicing permissions in early December. USAC “grand-fathered” all applicant and service provider invoicing access permissions for their users into the EPC system based on their user’s existing access permission in the SL Legacy applications. Please review and update, as necessary, your entity’s users and current access permissions for completing and submitting the E-Rate invoicing forms and responding to USAC’s related information requests.

•  Visit the E-Rate System Consolidation page for updated information regarding the transition from SL Legacy applications to EPC. There are links to the recent Special Edition News Briefs and System Consolidation videos available on this page.

•  Visit recently updated E-Rate online content on the following pages: E-Rate Tools.

CONTENTS

• FCC Releases the FY2023 Eligible Services List
• FCC Seeks Comment on Support for Advanced Firewall Services
• Adjusting the Category Two Budget
• Customer Service Center Holiday Hours
• Winter Deferral Period Starts December 16

Commitments for FY2021 and FY2022 

FY2022. USAC released FY 2022 Wave 30 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on November 10. As of December 14, FY 2022 commitments total over $2.68 billion.

FY2021. USAC released FY 2021 Wave 67 FCDLs on November 11. As of December 14, FY 2021 commitments total over $2.67 billion.

On the date that FCDLs are issued, you can access your FCDL notification from the Notifications section of your landing page in EPC.

 FCC Releases FY2023 Eligible Services List

The FCC has approved the Eligible Services List (ESL) for Funding Year (FY) 2023 (DA-22-1313, released December 14, 2022). Appendix B contains the ESL.  In the order adopting the ESL, the FCC authorizes USAC to open the FY2023 application filing window within 60 days after release of the order. We will announce the exact opening and closing dates of the FY2023 filing window as soon as they have been determined. You can register HERE for the FY2023 E-Rate Eligible Services Webinar being held on Thursday, January 5, 2023 at 2 p.m. EST. USAC will provide an overview of E-Rate eligible services and discuss the FY2023 ESL.

FCC Seeks Comment on Support for Advanced Firewall Services

The FCC is seeking comment on the use of E-Rate funds to support advanced or next-generation firewalls and services, as well as other network security services. A public notice was released (DA 22-1315) on December 14, 2022 with comments due February 13, 2023, and reply comments due March 30, 2023.

Adjusting Your Category Two Budget

The current five-year Category Two (C2) budget cycle began in FY2021 and goes through FY2025. Your C2 budget is determined when the first C2 FCC Form 471 in the budget cycle is certified. In the event that your student count has increased, you may request to update your C2 budget in any subsequent year of the budget cycle, but you are not required to do so. Libraries may also update their square footage information if it should increase. This update based on the new student count is referred to as a “replacement C2 budget” request by USAC.

You can request to update your C2 budgets in EPC during the EPC administrative window and during the FCC Form 471 application filing window up until the budgeted entity’s first C2 FCC Form 471 for that funding year is certified. If you do not request an adjustment, the C2 budget will remain fixed. You can access the EPC Administrative Window webinar, which contains information about changes that can be made in EPC during this window, through the Learn page. The Administrative Window webinar slides also provide information on how to request a replacement C2 budget in EPC. We also have a short video that demonstrates the process. Go to the C2 Budget page to learn more about the EPC administrative window and requesting changes to your existing C2 budget.

The Category Two (C2) budget tool provides data on the FY2021-FY2025 C2 budget cycle if you want to view your C2 budget information. It is available on the Tools page along with a video on how to use the tool.

Customer Service Center Holiday Hours

The Customer Service Center (CSC) provides customer service across USAC programs with specialized agents trained to answer your E-Rate program questions. At the end of December, CSC will be reducing its open hours around the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

CSC will be open during its customary hours through Friday, December 23 (Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET).

CSC, however, will be closed for the next two weeks on Mondays:

• Monday, December 26, 2022 - CLOSED 
  
• Monday, January 2, 2023 - CLOSED

CSC will resume its customary hours starting at 8:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

Winter Deferral Period Starts December 16

Many E-Rate program participants are unavailable during the winter holiday season, and USAC recognizes that participants may need additional time to respond to requests for information. Winter deferral extends from the Friday before Christmas Day through the Friday following New Year’s Day.

During our annual winter deferral period - Friday, December 16, 2022 through Friday, January 6, 2023 - USAC will only continue reviews of forms and requests where documentation was received or where participants respond to information requests sent in the E-Rate Productivity Center (EPC).

If USAC does not receive a response during this period, the form or request will be placed in a deferred status until January 6, 2023. However, we will be reviewing applications during the winter deferral period if we have answers to our questions. For those of you who are able to respond to our questions, please do so. This will allow us to continue reviewing applications and issue funding decisions more quickly.