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Schools and Libraries News Brief
December 16, 2011

 

TIP OF THE WEEK: If a consultant (a non-employee of the entity applying for funding that assists in filling out the application materials for a fee) is not assisting you to file your FCC Form 470 and/or FCC Form 471, you can leave the consultant information fields blank. These fields appear in Item 7 of the FCC Form 470 and Item 6g of the FCC Form 471.

FCC Form 470 Filing Reminders

Congratulations to the filers of the 11,962 FY2012 FCC Forms 470 posted to the USAC website on or before Monday, December 12. The 28-day waiting period for those forms will end on January 9, 2012, and – assuming that the appropriate competitive bidding and program requirements have been met – those applicants can post FCC Forms 471 on the first day of the filing window.

Last day to post an FCC Form 470 for FY2012

Remember that February 21, 2012 is the last day that an FCC Form 470 can be posted to the USAC website and still meet the 28-day posting requirement before the window closes on March 20, 2011. If you are filing on paper, plan to send your form so that we RECEIVE it no later than February 14, as we may need to request corrections or additional information before we can complete data entry, post your form to the website, and start your 28-day clock.

Correcting an FCC Form 470

Applicants have the opportunity to make certain limited corrections to information provided on the FCC Form 470 using the Receipt Notification Letter (RNL) correction process. (USAC issues an RNL for each submitted FCC Form 470.) Instructions for submitting corrections to an FCC Form 470 are contained in the RNL.

If the correction you wish to make is not allowable under program rules, you will have to file a new FCC Form 470. One reason we suggest that you file your form early is to give yourself a chance to refile your form if necessary.

Here are some examples of information that necessitate posting a new FCC Form 470:

  • Indicating on the original FCC Form 470 that you do not and will not have an RFP but then issuing one.
  • Forgetting to post for a category of service on the original FCC Form 470.
  • Posting for the wrong category of service on the original FCC Form 470 (see below).
  • Neglecting to mention on either the original FCC Form 470 or RFP the reasons that service providers or their bids could be disqualified.

How to avoid posting for the wrong category of service

USAC will deny a funding request if the category of service posted for the funding request on the FCC Form 471 does not match the category of service posted on the FCC Form 470. In some cases, USAC may change the category of service on the FCC Form 471 from the category posted by the applicant. Applicants should therefore post for all applicable categories of service.

  • A service that can appear in more than one category should be posted in both. For example, dark fiber or Interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) should be posted in both Item 8 (Telecommunications Services) and Item 9 (Internet Access) on the FCC Form 470.
  • A service that could be moved from one category of service to another should be posted in both. For example, during its review of an application, USAC may move a request for On-premise Priority 1 equipment from Telecommunications Services or Internet Access to Internal Connections because the service does not meet all applicable program requirements. If USAC moves the service to Internal Connections but the applicant did not post for the service in Item 10 (Internal Connections) on the FCC Form 470, USAC will deny the request.

For more information, refer to the FCC Form 470 Instructions.

FY2012 Item 21 Attachment Deadline Reminder

The Item 21 attachment is an important component of each FCC Form 471 Block 5 funding request. This attachment contains specific information about the products and services for which discounts are being requested, together with costs and locations of those products and services and other pertinent information.

Starting last year, Item 21 attachments became a window filing requirement. Therefore, the Item 21 attachments for your FY2012 applications must be submitted to USAC on or before 11:59 pm EDT on Tuesday, March 20, 2012.

 

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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