Commitments for Funding Year 2010

Funding Year 2010. USAC will release FY2010 Wave 8 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) July 15. This wave will include commitments for approved Priority 1 (Telecommunications Services and Internet Access) requests at all discount levels. As of July 9, FY2010 commitments total just under $760 million.

On the day the FCDLs are mailed, you can check to see if you have a commitment by using USAC’s Automated Search of Commitments tool.

Fall Applicant Training Registration Continues

The Fall 2010 Applicant Training page on the USAC website has information on how to register and how to make hotel reservations for the six training sessions that are still open. Please cancel your registration if your plans change.

For questions, cancellations, or requests for information, you can continue to email USAC Training.

FY2011 Form 470 Available for Filing Online

On July 1, 2010, USAC enabled online filing for FY2011 for the Form 470, Description of Services Requested and Certification Form. Form 470 is the first program form applicants file to request discounts under the E-rate program. (As a reminder, the first day of FY2011 is July 1, 2011.)

By posting a Form 470 on the USAC website, applicants are opening a competitive bidding process. Applicants describe the services they are requesting on the Form 470, and service providers can search Forms 470 or download summary reports of Forms 470 in order to review and respond to applicant requests.

You must file a Form 470 for FY2011 services if you:

• Are seeking non-contracted tariffed or month-to-month services.
• Intend to sign a new contract.
• Signed a multi-year contract or a contract with voluntary extensions without first posting a Form 470 and following all of the competitive bidding rules of the program.
• Filed a Form 470 that resulted in a multi-year contract or a contract with voluntary extensions but did not indicate your interest in such a contract in Item 7b of that establishing Form 470.

Some applicants with long procurement cycles filed a Form 470 for FY2010 and indicated in Item 13b that the Form 470 was intended for FY2011 services. Please note however, that if you are filing a request for FY2011 non-contracted tariffed or month-to-month services, you MUST use the FY2011 Form 470.

• If you cite an FY2010 Form 470 for these services on an FY2011 Form 471 funding request, your funding request will be denied.
• USAC will be contacting applicants that checked Form 470 Item 7a, Tariffed or month-to-month services to be provided without a written contract, on an FY2010 Form 470 filed on or after February 19, 2010, the close of the FY2010 application filing window, to make sure they understand this requirement.

Update on HATS

USAC's Helping Applicants To Succeed (HATS) outreach initiative is approaching the start of its fifth year of providing targeted assistance through personal visits to program participants that are experiencing difficulties with the application and/or invoicing processes.

USAC staff run queries of our application database to find applicants that may have experienced difficulties when requesting funding. We then contact the applicants that have experienced one or more difficulties and offer to conduct a HATS visit. Applicants that are new to the program or in need of a refresher can also volunteer for a visit.

USAC conducts HATS visits in person and also by telephone or videoconference. During a HATS visit, the HATS specialist provides outreach targeted to the specific needs of the applicant based on our review of the application history.

HATS visits are not compliance visits. Limited advance preparation is required. In fact, you may not be asked to prepare any documentation. However, if you have a specific problem that you’d like to discuss with your HATS specialist, it's helpful to bring along any related documents you may have available.

While HATS visits can last from one to four hours, a typical visit lasts about two hours and consists of the following:

• A discussion of the specific issue or issues that led to the visit and how to correct them.
• Identification of any obvious invoicing issues, such as funding committed but not invoiced from a current or recent funding year, and the steps available to correct any outstanding issues.
• A general discussion of program requirements that covers each of the subject areas listed below.
• A demonstration of the search tools and other information available on the USAC website that will be of help to the applicant.
• An opportunity to provide feedback on USAC's outreach efforts – such as the website, SL News Briefs, Tip Sheets, and spring and fall training sessions – and to make suggestions for other possible kinds of outreach or program improvements.

The general discussion of program requirements touches on the topics listed below. Your HATS specialist can spend less time on – or skip – the areas you are familiar with and spend more time on the areas where you have questions or need help.

• Technology planning
• Competitive bidding
• Calculating your discount level
• Form requirements and deadlines
• Understanding USAC's decision letters
• Documenting receipt of services
• Invoicing
• Retaining required program documentation

If you would like to volunteer for a HATS visit, you can call the Client Service Bureau (CSB) at 1-888-203-8100. CSB will ask you for the following information and then forward your responses to USAC for consideration:

• Contact person name
• Contact person phone number
• Contact person email address
• Name of the person who completes the application paperwork (if different from contact person above)
• Billed Entity Name (or names if you apply for more than one Billed Entity)
• Billed Entity Number (or numbers if you apply for more than one Billed Entity)
• Brief reason(s) for the HATS visit request – for example, if you are new to the program or are having a specific problem with one or more program requirements.

If you are selected for a HATS visit, someone from USAC will contact you to arrange the details of the visit.

For more information, refer to the HATS Outreach Initiative on the USAC website.

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