February 1, 2013 

Commitments for Funding Years 2012, 2011, and 2010

Funding Year 2012. USAC will release FY2012 Wave 29 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) February 5. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 2 (Internal Connections and Basic Maintenance) requests at 90% and denials at 89% and below. As of February 1, FY2012 commitments total over $1.80 billion.

Funding Year 2011. USAC will release FY2011 Wave 79 FCDLs February 6. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 2 requests at 88% and above and denials at 87% and below. As of February 1, FY2011 commitments total over $2.51 billion.

Funding Year 2010. USAC will release FY2010 Wave 108 FCDLs February 8. This wave can include commitments for approved Priority 2 requests at all discount levels. As of February 1, FY2010 commitments total over $3.08 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.

What to Do If You Missed One or Both January Deadlines

Monday, January 28 was the extended deadline for FY2012 FCC Forms 486 and for FY2011 invoices for recurring services. (It was also the customary deadline for FY2011 invoices for non-recurring services.) Although these deadlines were extended to give those affected by Superstorm Sandy additional time to prepare and submit these forms, the extension applies to all applicants and service providers.

In general, if the January 28 deadline applies to you and you missed filing or certifying your form(s), you can still take actions to successfully file and certify your forms without penalty. Below we discuss a number of scenarios and the actions you should take for each.

INVOICE DEADLINE

1. If an applicant filed an FCC Form 472 (BEAR Form) online for FY2011 services on or before January 28 and the service provider has not yet approved the form:

Unless you have received an invoice deadline extension, your BEAR Form will be rejected. To be considered as timely filed, a BEAR Form must:

• Be filed by the applicant online AND approved by the service provider online by the deadline OR
• Be filed on paper, contain all four pages (including the service provider signature on page 4), and be postmarked by the deadline.

If USAC has already approved an invoice deadline extension request, your service provider can still approve your invoice. You can verify your extended date by referring to the FRN Extension Table. Choose FY2011 (Year 14), click "Next>>," and search for your FRN(s) on the results page.

• If the invoice deadline for an FRN has been extended, you have until the extended deadline to file BEAR Forms. However, we suggest that you complete your invoicing as soon as possible.
• If the deadline has not been extended, you must submit an invoice deadline extension request and wait for USAC to approve it before you can file a BEAR Form.

2. If an applicant filed a BEAR Form online for FY2011 services on or before January 28 and the service provider approved the form after January 28:

The BEAR Form will be rejected. You must request and receive approval for an invoice deadline extension before you can file another BEAR Form.

3. If an applicant or service provider filed an invoice that was rejected:

You must request and receive approval for an invoice deadline extension before you can file another invoice because the invoice deadline has passed. This applies both to service providers that file the FCC Form 474 (SPI Form) and to applicants that file the BEAR Form.

4. If an applicant or service provider did not file an invoice before the invoice deadline:

If you did not complete your invoicing process by the January 28 deadline and your FRN has not been extended, you must request and receive approval for an invoice deadline extension before you can file another invoice. This applies both to service providers that file SPI Forms and to applicants that file BEAR Forms.

FORM 486 DEADLINE

For many applicants, the customary deadline for filing and certifying an FCC Form 486 is October 29 of the funding year. However, the customary FCC Form 486 deadline depends on both the FCDL date and the actual service start date.

You can use the Deadlines Tool on the USAC website to calculate your specific deadline. For example, you can use the tool to verify that your FY2012 Form 486 deadline is later than January 28, 2013 if:

• Your FCDL is dated on or after October 1, 2012 OR
• USAC issued a commitment on a Revised FCDL dated on or after October 1, 2012 for an FRN that was originally denied in full OR
• Your service start date is on or after October 1, 2012.

Each year, USAC issues Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letters to applicants that appear to have missed the FCC Form 486 deadline. The first batch of these letters – just over 2,360 letters – will be issued February 7 to all FY2012 applicants with FRNs that meet the criteria below:

• USAC issued an FCDL dated before October 1, 2012 with a positive commitment AND
• The service start date reported on FCC Form 471 Item 19 was before October 1, 2012 AND
• An FCC Form 486 has not been successfully submitted and certified for that FRN.

After this first batch of letters, USAC will issue a letter for each additional FY2012 FRN after its estimated FCC Form 486 deadline passes without an FCC Form 486 being filed and certified. To accomplish this, USAC runs a daily query of FRNs using the later of (1) 120 days after the FCDL date and (2) 120 days after the service start date reported on the FCC Form 471 to determine when each letter should be issued.

Applicants will have 20 days from the date of the Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letter to file and certify an FCC Form 486 online or on paper. For any FRN on an FCC Form 486 that is not timely filed, USAC will reset the service start date to the date 120 days before the FCC Form 486 was certified online or on paper. Note that USAC will not pay discounts on services received before that adjusted service start date.

1. If you didn't file your FCC Form 486 by the deadline:

File and certify your FCC Form 486 as soon as possible. You must file and certify your form by the deadline in the Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letter – February 27, 2013 – to avoid an adjustment to your service start date.

2. If you filed your FCC Form 486 online by the deadline but have not yet certified it:

Certify your FCC Form 486 online or on paper as soon as possible. You must certify your FCC Form 486 by the deadline in the Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letter – February 27, 2013 – to avoid an adjustment to your service start date.

3. If you reported a date before October 1, 2012 as the service start date on your FCC Form 471 but that is no longer the correct service start date:

Use the Deadlines Tool to calculate your FCC Form 486 deadline, and then file and certify your form before that deadline has passed. Note that USAC will issue only one Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letter for an FRN if you have not certified an FCC Form 486 by your estimated deadline.

4. Service providers: If you see from the Data Retrieval Tool that one of your customers has not yet filed an FCC Form 486 (i.e., there is no entry in the Form 486 Service Start Date field):

You can contact the applicant and remind him or her of the deadline for filing this form. Remember that USAC will not pay invoices for an FRN unless an FCC Form 486 has been successfully processed for that FRN.

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