August 23, 2013  

Commitments for Funding Years 2013, 2012, and 2011

Funding Year 2013. USAC will release Funding Year (FY) 2013 Wave 15 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) August 28. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 1 (Telecommunications Services and Internet Access) requests at all discount levels. As of August 23, FY2013 commitments total over $415 million and encompass 20,489 of FY2013 applications.

Funding Year 2012. USAC will release FY2012 Wave 57 FCDLs August 29. 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 August 23, FY2012 commitments total over $2.73 billion.

Funding Year 2011. USAC will release FY2011 Wave 101 FCDLs August 27. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 2 requests at 88 percent and above and denials at 87 percent and below. As of August 23, FY2011 commitments total over $2.62 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.

Update on Online Invoicing

Testing for the new online FCC Form 472 (BEAR Form) is almost complete. Look for a Special SL News Brief early next week announcing the availability of the new form online.

Applicants and service providers should review the paper version of the new BEAR Form and the new BEAR Form instructions before filing the form. Specifically, note that the certification language has changed for both applicants and service providers, and applicants now provide BEAR remittance information to assist service providers.

For a detailed list of the changes from the old (April 2007) version of the form, refer to the August 9 SL News Brief.

Fall Training Update - Hotel Reservation Deadlines

USAC will be sending reminder emails out soon to everyone registered for one of the fall applicant training sessions. While it is not necessary to confirm your registration, we would greatly appreciate it if you would email USAC to cancel your registration if you no longer intend to use it.  

Remember also that you must make a room reservation if you want to stay at the conference hotel. The table below shows the last day to make a reservation at the negotiated conference room rate. Rooms may not be available – or may be more expensive – if you try to make a reservation after these dates.

If you have questions or need more information, please email USAC.

New FCC Form 498 Now Available

As of August 20, 2013, all service providers must now use the new FCC Form 498 (August 2013) when applying for a new Service Provider Identification Number (SPIN) or when making changes to contact or remittance information to an existing SPIN.

The new FCC Form 498 is available through the Forms page of the USAC website. (This link contains the instructions followed by the form itself.) No prior years’ forms will be accepted; all FCC Forms 498 mailed to USAC (postmarked after August 20) must use the new version of the form or they will not be processed. Service providers who submit an outdated form will receive notice from USAC that the form could not be processed. FCC Form 498 E-File users will automatically see the new version of the form upon log in, and their information will pre-populate.

The changes to the form largely affect service providers participating in the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program. However, note that the new Block 16 contains the option for Schools and Libraries service providers to net their payments against their USF obligations.

On August 19, 2013, the FCC released Public Notice DA 13-1777 explaining the changes to the form. If you have questions, call USAC at 1 (888) 641-8722 or visit the Service Providers section of the USAC website.

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