July 6, 2012

Commitments for Funding Year 2012

Funding Year 2012. USAC will release FY2012 Wave 2 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) July 11. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 1 (Telecommunications Services and Internet Access) requests at all discount levels.

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.

FCC Establishes Comment Period for FY2013 Eligible Services List

On July 5, 2012 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Public Notice (DA 12-1052) establishing the comment period for the Eligible Services List (ESL) proposed for Funding Year 2013.

Comments on the draft ESL are due to the FCC on or before August 6, 2012. Reply comments are due to the FCC on or before August 21, 2012. For a summary of proposed changes to the ESL and information on filing comments with the FCC, please refer to the Public Notice. 

Fall 2012 Applicant Training Sessions

The eight applicant training sessions scheduled for fall 2012 are filling up. We have started waiting lists for Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Dallas; the other sessions still have space available. To register with USAC for the training or to make a room reservation at a conference hotel, refer to the Trainings and Outreach page on the USAC website.

Registrations are on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register only for the session that you want to attend. You can email USAC Training with questions or to cancel your registration if your plans change. 

APPLICATION PROCESS: FCC Form 486 and FCC Form 479

Next week, USAC will mail FCDLs for the first wave of FY2012. Applicants should be preparing for the next steps in the application process.

• If services have started, applicants should be getting ready to file FCC Form 486, Receipt of Service Confirmation Form.
• For members of a consortium or in other situations where the entity filing the FCC Form 486 is not the Administrative Authority for purposes of CIPA (see below), recipients of service may need to file the FCC Form 479, Certification of Administrative Authority to Billed Entity of Compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act, with the entity that will file the FCC Form 486 on their behalf.

Both forms are discussed below.

After applicants receive a funding commitment from USAC and services have started for that funding year, applicants can file FCC Form 486 to accomplish the following:

• To notify USAC that services have started.
• To authorize the payment of invoices for those services. (Note that the service provider must also file FCC Form 473, Service Provider Annual Certification Form, for that funding year before USAC can pay invoices.) 
• To indicate the approval of technology plan(s) – if they are required – by a USAC-certified technology plan approver for the entities that will receive discounted services. (Remember that, starting with FY2011, technology plans are not required for Priority 1 services.)
• To certify the status of compliance with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) for the entities that will receive discounted services.

Remember that when you file FCC Form 486, you are providing information about and certifying compliance with program rules relating to technology planning and CIPA. As a reminder, we are including summary information about those program requirements below.

- Technology planning requirements

Here are the basic requirements of a technology plan:

• It must be created (written) before the FCC Form 470 is filed. (An existing approved technology plan that includes the requested Priority 2 services and that covers at least part of the upcoming funding year meets this requirement.)
• It must cover all 12 months of the funding year for which you are applying.
• It must contain all of the required elements. (Starting with FY2011, budget information is not required.)
• It must be approved by a USAC-certified Technology Plan Approver (TPA) before the FCC Form 486 is filed or services start, whichever is earlier.
• In general, it cannot cover more than three years.

You must be prepared to provide on the FCC Form 486 the name of the TPA that approved your technology plan. If you must list more than one TPA – for example, if you are filing a consortium application and more than one TPA approved the technology plans of your individual members – you must be prepared to provide the names of all appropriate TPAs.

- CIPA requirements

In general, CIPA requires schools and libraries receiving discounts on Internet Access, Internal Connections, and/or Basic Maintenance services to certify that they are enforcing a policy of Internet safety that includes measures to block or filter Internet access for both minors and adults to certain visual depictions.

To receive discounted services, the Administrative Authority for your school or library must certify that:

• You are in compliance with CIPA or
• You are undertaking actions to comply with CIPA or
• CIPA does not apply because you are receiving discounts for telecommunications services (note that CIPA also does not apply if you are receiving discounts for telecommunications, interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, or fiber services requested in the Internet Access category for telecommunications transmission purposes only).

For a school, the Administrative Authority may be the school, school district, school board, local educational agency, or other authority with responsibility for administration of the school. For a library, the Administrative Authority may be the library, library board, or other authority with responsibility for administration of the library.

• If the Administrative Authority is the same as the Billed Entity, the Administrative Authority certifies on the FCC Form 486.
• If the Administrative Authority is not the Billed Entity, the Administrative Authority must certify on the FCC Form 479 and submit the completed form to the Billed Entity. The Billed Entity then certifies on the FCC Form 486 that it has collected duly completed and signed FCC Form(s) 479. The Billed Entity does not need to collect FCC Forms 479 when the Billed Entity applies only for telecommunications services.

Keep in mind that – when FCC Forms 479 are required – Billed Entities must wait until they have collected all FCC Forms 479 before they can accurately make the appropriate CIPA certification(s) on the FCC Form 486. To avoid reductions in funding due to late-filed FCC Forms 486, recipients of service should act promptly when their Billed Entity asks them to complete and submit this form. Remember that FCC Forms 479 are submitted to the Billed Entity, not to USAC or the FCC.

For detailed information on the requirements of CIPA compliance, refer to the CIPA guidance on the USAC website. 

For more information on FCC Form 486 and FCC Form 479, refer to the FCC Form 486 Instructions and the FCC Form 479 Instructions.

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