April 26, 2013

Commitments for Funding Years 2012 and 2011

Funding Year 2012. USAC will release Funding Year (FY) 2012 Wave 41 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) April 30. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 2 (Internal Connections and Basic Maintenance) requests at 90 percent and denials at 89 percent and below. As of April 26, FY2012 commitments total over $2.12 billion.

Funding Year 2011. USAC will release FY2011 Wave 90 FCDLs May 1. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 2 requests at 88 percent and above and denials at 87 percent and below. As of April 26, FY2011 commitments total over $2.57 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.

FY2013 Demand Estimate

Each year, about a month after the close of the filing window, USAC prepares a demand estimate for the upcoming funding year and submits it to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The demand estimate summarizes the dollar amounts for all funding requests submitted on timely filed FCC Forms 471. These totals are also broken down by category of service and by discount band (90%, 80-89%, 70-79%, etc.)

For FY2013, the total estimated demand is $4.986 billion, which includes approximately $2.709 billion in Priority 1 requests (Telecommunications Services and Internet Access) and approximately $2.277 billion in Priority 2 requests (Internal Connections and Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections). The demand estimate is based on the funding requests in the 45,189 applications received or postmarked on or before March 14, 2013, the close of the FCC Form 471 application filing window.

List of FY2013 FRNs That May Be Missing Item 21 Attachments

USAC has posted on its website a List of FY2013 FRNs that we believe are missing Item 21 attachments. The list is grouped in tabs by state (state names A-F, G-K, L-P, and R-Z) and sorted by entity name, FCC Form 471 application number, and Funding Request Number (FRN). An FRN appears on this list if it exists in our database and one or more of the following statements are true:

• You did not file an Item 21 attachment and should have filed one.
• You started an Item 21 attachment online but did not submit it by April 17, 2013. (Clicking the "Save and Exit" button DOES NOT submit your attachment.)
• You submitted an Item 21 attachment by email, fax, or on paper, but you did not correctly identify the FRN, the Form 471 application number, or both in time for USAC to log it by March 28, 2013.
• Your Item 21 attachment and the Item 21 Attachment Urgent Reminder Letter crossed in the mail.

Note that in many cases USAC issued the Item 21 Attachment Urgent Reminder Letter because we received and were able to locate and identify some but not all of the FRNs associated with your submission.

Item 21 attachments submitted online

If you believe you have already submitted your Item 21 attachments online, you should review the Item 21 attachment status information available from the Apply Online page.

• In the FCC Form 471 column, click the Item 21 Attachment button.
• Enter your Billed Entity Number, FCC Form 471 Application Number, and Security Code, then click Continue.
• You will see a list of the FRNs associated with your FCC Form 471 and their respective statuses.

FRNs with the status "in progress online" have not been submitted. To submit one of these FRNs, click "in progress online" to the right of that FRN. Review your work and make any necessary changes or corrections, then click the Submit button at the bottom right-hand corner of the last page. The status of that FRN will change to "submitted online."

Item 21 attachments submitted by email, fax, or on paper

If you believe you have already filed your Item 21 attachments by email, fax, or on paper, you can Submit a Question or call the Client Service Bureau (CSB) to verify that we have received them.

• You should first review your copy of the submission to verify that Item 21 attachments are included for ALL of the FRNs from the FCC Form 471 and that you correctly identified both the FRNs and the Form 471 application number.
• If you contact CSB, be prepared to provide your FCC Form 471 application number, the method of submission (email, fax, or paper), and the date of your submission.

If you have not yet submitted your Item 21 attachments, you must do so on or before May 15. If an Item 21 attachment is not received or postmarked on or before May 15, its associated FRN will be out-of-window and will not be considered for funding.

The Item 21 Attachments guidance document has information on what to include in your Item 21 attachment(s) and how to file them online, by email, by fax, or on paper.

Keep in mind that the Form 471 Application Status tool shows the status of an FCC Form 471, not the status of each FRN on that form.

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