March 2, 2012

Commitments for Funding Years 2011 and 2010

Funding Year 2011. USAC will release FY2011 Wave 37 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) March 6. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 2 (Internal Connections and Basic Maintenance) requests at 90%. As of March 2, FY2011 commitments total over $1.86 billion.

Funding Year 2010. USAC will release FY2010 Wave 88 FCDLs March 7. This wave can include commitments for approved Priority 2 services at all discount levels. As of March 2, FY2010 commitments total over $3.01 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.

"470 No 471" Email Notifications

Each year, USAC sends a notification to applicants that have timely posted an FCC Form 470 to the USAC website but not yet filed an FCC Form 471 funding request citing that FCC Form 470. In the past, USAC has issued this notification by letter – one letter per form – shortly after the last day to post an FCC Form 470 and still complete all of the program activities necessary to file an FCC Form 471 by the close of the filing window.

Today, USAC prepared an email to each FCC Form 470 contact person or authorized person with a timely posted FCC Form 470 not cited on any FCC Form 471 Block 5 funding request (Item 11 on the form) as of February 28. For each unique email address, this email contained all affected FCC Form 470 application numbers and all Billed Entity Numbers. We expect this improved format to prove more helpful and less confusing to applicants.

• If the contact person email address appeared in Item 6e of the form, the email was sent to the contact person.
• If the contact person email address was blank but the authorized person email address appeared in Item 27f of the form, the email was sent to the authorized person.
• NOTE: If both email address fields were blank, USAC issued a letter - one per form - and sent the letters to the contact person street address (Item 6b of the form).

Please note: Applicants must still wait at least 28 days after the posting of the FCC Form 470 – or the public availability of a Request for Proposals (RFP), if one was issued – before closing the competitive bidding process, choosing a service provider, signing a contract (if applicable), and signing and submitting the FCC Form 471 by 11:59 pm EDT on Tuesday, March 20.

Service Provider Training Announced

Each year, USAC conducts two training sessions in the spring targeted for service providers and eight training sessions in the fall targeted for applicants. The two spring 2012 service provider trainings will be held on the following dates and locations:

• Thursday, May 10 at the Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia.
• Tuesday, May 15 at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel, Los Angeles, California.

To register for the training and to find information on hotel reservations, refer to the Training Sessions and Presentations page on the USAC website.

Filing Reminders for Item 21 Attachments

The Item 21 attachment – a description of service required for each Block 5 funding request on the FCC Form 471 – is a window filing requirement. This means it must be received (if filed online, by email or fax, or hand-delivered) or postmarked (if filed on paper and sent by delivery service or U.S. Mail) by 11:59 pm EDT on March 20, 2012.

If you intend to file online:

In order to file an Item 21 attachment online, you must have filed your Form 471 online. To file your Item 21 attachment online, go to the Apply Online page and click on the Item 21 Attachment button in the Form 471 column. You will need the following information to access your FRN(s) and complete your Item 21 attachment(s):

• Billed Entity Number
• FCC Form 471 application number
• Security code
• Any documentation – such as bid responses, contracts, or service descriptions – that contains information on the services you are seeking.

The online system will walk you through the process of filing. You can even bring funding request information from your FRNs into the online Item 21 attachment so that you can verify your calculations. The system will warn you if the total dollar figure on your attachment doesn't match the total dollar figure on the associated FRN and allow you to make adjustments.

Your online Item 21 attachment has not been submitted until you click on the Submit button on the last screen. If you need to make changes to your attachment after you have submitted it, you must submit a revised attachment using another filing option – you cannot revise an attachment online after you click on the Submit button.

If you intend to file on paper:

Although we refer to other filing methods as "filing on paper," you have three options other than online filing. You should refer to the Item 21 Attachments guidance document on the USAC website for the specific information you need to include in your attachment. You should include the following information on each page of your submission:

• FCC Form 471 application number
• Funding Request Number
• Item 21 attachment number (the number you entered in Item 21 of the FCC Form 471)
• Name of the person that can answer questions about your submission along with contact information (email, fax number, and/or telephone number)
• Billed Entity Number

If your submission contains attachments for multiple FRNs, clearly identify the FRN associated with each attachment.

• To file by email, attach your completed attachment to an email message and email it to USAC.
• To file by fax, fax your completed attachment to (973) 599-6511.
• To file by mail, mail your completed attachment to SLD Forms, Form 471 - Item 21 Attachment, P.O. Box 7026, Lawrence, KS 66044-7026.
• To file using a delivery service, send your completed attachment to SLD Forms, ATTN: Form 471 - Item 21 Attachment, 3833 Greenway Drive, Lawrence, KS 66046, Telephone: 1-888-203-8100.

Again, for detailed information and examples, refer to the Item 21 Attachments guidance document on the USAC website.

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