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Schools and Libraries News Brief
June 10, 2011

 

TIP OF THE WEEK: If you have not yet certified a Form 470 cited on a Form 471 Block 5 funding request, do so online or on paper as soon as possible. If you wait until your PIA reviewer reminds you to do so, your certification will become subject to the deadline described in the Deadline for Information Requests guidance document.

Commitments for Funding Years 2010 and 2009

Funding Year 2010. USAC will release FY2010 Wave 53 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) June 14. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 2 (Internal Connections and Basic Maintenance) requests at 81% and above and denials at 79% and below. As of June 10, FY2010 commitments total over $2.54 billion.

Funding Year 2009. USAC will release FY2009 Wave 87 FCDLs June 15. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 2 requests at 77% and above and denials at 76% and below. As of June 10, FY2009 commitments total over $2.8 billion. 

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 2011 Applicant Training Sessions - Registration Reminder

There is still space available in the fall applicant training sessions in Minneapolis, MN; Portland, OR; St. Louis, MO; and Orlando, FL. You may also sign up on a waiting list for one of the other four training sessions, and we will continue to work those waiting lists as we receive cancellations. Please email USAC Training if your plans change and you are unable to attend a session so that we can open up a space for someone else.

You can register and make hotel reservations by following the appropriate links on the Training Sessions and Presentations page on the USAC website.

Certain Forms 471 Moved to In-window Status

A number of FY2011 Forms 471 were timely submitted online (i.e., the Submit button was pushed on or before 11:59 pm EDT on March 24, 2011) but not certified by the close of the filing window. USAC sent letters to the affected applicants notifying them that they must certify those forms – either online or on paper – on or before May 17, 2011 for the forms to be considered in-window.

Last week, USAC changed the status of the affected applications certified on or before May 17 from "Certified - Out of Window" to "Certified - In Window." Applicants can check the status of their applications using either the Form 471 Status Tool or the Form 471 Application Display Tool.

  • Form 471 Status Tool - Enter your Billed Entity Number, choose Year 2011, and click "Search," then click "Continue" on the resulting information page. At the top of the following page, you will see your applications listed by Form 471 Application Number and Applicant Form Identifier with the status of each form in the right-hand column. The table below the search results provides a detailed explanation of each status.
  • Form 471 Application Display Tool - Enter the Form 471 Application Number (you do not need the security code), click "Original," and then click "Display." The form status is located in the upper left-hand corner of the resulting web page.

On June 8, USAC issued about 780 Receipt Acknowledgment Letters (RALs) to the affected applicants. USAC also issued service provider RALs to the service providers featured on these applications. Because these applications are now considered in-window, they are available for Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) review to begin.

Applicants please note: Each year, USAC performs a single update to change the status on all timely filed applications successfully certified after the application window closes but before the extended certification deadline (May 17, 2011 for FY2011 applications). Because applicants can postmark a paper certification on the extended certification deadline, it takes several weeks for USAC to be certain that all paper certifications have been received and properly processed and that the list of applications to be updated is both correct and complete. Applicants concerned about being temporarily in an out-of-window status are encouraged to certify their applications next year before the filing window closes.

Out-of-window letters for FY2011 Forms 471

Now that USAC has completed the work of identifying all Forms 471 certified by the extended deadline and has moved them in-window, we will start the process of identifying the applications that are truly out-of-window.

When this process is complete, USAC will issue an out-of-window letter for each Form 471 that is:

  • filed on paper and postmarked after the close of the filing window or
  • filed online on or before the close of the filing window and certified online or on paper after the extended certification deadline (for FY2011 applications, the extended certification deadline was May 17) or
  • filed online after the close of the filing window.

Note that USAC does not issue out-of-window letters for forms started online that remain in an "Incomplete" or "Complete" status. You can check the status of a Form 471 by using either of the tools described above.

We will include a note in the SL News Brief when our quality assurance work is complete and the out-of-window letters are ready to be issued.

 

You may download and print copies of Schools and Libraries News Briefs on USAC’s website. You may subscribe to or unsubscribe from this news brief. For program information, please visit the Schools and Libraries area of the USAC website, submit a question, or call us toll-free at 1-888-203-8100. Feel free to forward this news brief to any interested parties.

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