March 28, 2014

Commitments for Funding Year 2013

Funding Year 2013. USAC will release Funding Year (FY) 2013 Wave 45 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) April 4. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 1 (Telecommunications Services and Internet Access) requests at all discount levels. As of March 28, FY2013 commitments total just under $2.01 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.

Update on Demand Estimate Preparation

As of the close of the FY2014 application filing window (Wednesday, March 26 at 11:59 PM EDT), following are totals at that point in time. It should be noted that these numbers are NOT final as we need to receive, finish data entry, and total all applications postmarked by the close of the filing window that were mailed to us. That process will take more than two weeks.

 Number of online Item 21 attachments filed: 89,837

These preliminary numbers include all FCC Forms 471 that were either complete or certified as of the close of the window plus all paper forms that had finished the data entry process. In the next few weeks, we expect to receive and process more paper applications that were postmarked on or before the window close.

FY2013 Invoice Deadlines Have NOT Been Extended by One Year

The purpose of this notice is to advise you that the invoice deadlines for FY2013 have NOT been extended by one year.

Recently, the Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) on our website indicated that the FY2013 invoice deadlines had been extended one year. That was incorrect. We have since updated our systems to show the correct deadlines, which are:

• October 28, 2014 for recurring services.
• January 28, 2015 for non-recurring services.

We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have questions, call our Client Service Bureau at 1 (888) 203-8100.

Next Steps Related to the FY2014 Filing Window

Now that the window has closed – and before you return to other pressing concerns – we suggest that you take the time to complete or prepare for the next steps in the application process.

Submit your Item 21 attachments.

If you have not already submitted your Item 21 attachments, do so as soon as possible. If you submitted your FCC Form 471 online, you can use your FCC Form 471 application number and security code to submit your Item 21 attachments online. Review the Item 21 Attachments guidance document on the USAC website for the specific information you need to include and for other filing options.

FCC Order DA 11-88, released January 14, 2011, directs USAC to inform applicants in writing of any missing Item 21 attachments. Applicants will have 20 days from the date of the notification letter to submit the missing Item 21 attachments either online or by email, fax, or on paper. These letters will be issued in the next few weeks.

Certify your FCC Form 471.

Within the next few weeks, USAC will also issue reminder letters to applicants that identify all FCC Forms 471 submitted online on or before the last day of the filing window but that are not yet certified. Applicants will have 20 days from the date of that letter to certify the FCC Form 471 and still have the form be considered in-window. FCC Forms 471 certified after the deadline in the letter will be considered out-of-window. As above, we encourage you to take action now and certify your FCC Form 471 rather than waiting for the reminder letter.

To check the status of an FCC Form 471, click the Application Status button in the FCC Form 471 column of the Apply Online page. Enter the Billed Entity Number and choose the funding year, then click the Continue button on the following page to pull up a list of FCC Forms 471 filed by that Billed Entity with their current statuses. You can also view an individual form and its status using the Display button in the FCC Form 471 column.

Certify any FCC Form 470 that you cited on a funding request.

Each FCC Form 470 cited in Item 12 of an FCC Form 471 Block 5 funding request must be certified. Because an FCC Form 470 can be posted to the USAC website without being certified, applicants sometimes forget to complete this important step. Although you will be reminded during PIA review if an FCC Form 470 needs to be certified, we suggest that you take the time now to certify any forms that you have cited.

To verify the status of an FCC Form 470, click the Search Posted button in the FCC Form 470 column on the Apply Online page. Choose the appropriate funding year and, on the following screen, provide the application number or other details that will allow you to locate your form. If the status on the third line of the form display is "COMPLETE," return to the Apply Online page, click the Certify Complete button in the FCC Form 470 column, and follow the instruction to certify your form either online – if you have a PIN – or on paper.

Review your RAL and submit any allowable corrections.

USAC issues a Receipt Acknowledgment Letter (RAL) for each FCC Form 471 that is timely certified. This letter contains instructions for identifying and submitting allowable corrections to the form. We suggest that you review your RAL(s) carefully and, if you notice any errors, submit corrections to USAC as soon as possible.

Organize and store your documents.

As part of your application filing process, you may have produced or accessed a number of documents, for example:

• Technology plans
• Requests for Proposal (RFPs)
• Winning and losing bids
• Bid evaluation matrices and other evaluation documents
• Contracts
• National School Lunch Program (NSLP) data reports
• Alternative discount mechanism documentation (e.g., income surveys)
• Draft or final budgets

You may be asked to provide or refer to some or all of your documentation during Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) reviews, appeal reviews, audits, or other program activities. We suggest you take the time now to organize and file all documents related to your application in a manner that will allow you to easily locate and retrieve them for any future needs.

If you would like guidance on how to organize your documentation, review the E-rate Binder Table of Contents in the Reference Area of the website under the heading Samples and Examples.

Check the status of your technology plan.

Applicants requesting discounts for Internal Connections and/or Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections must have an approved technology plan before services start or the FCC Form 486 is filed, whichever is earlier. We suggest you do the following:

• If you are already covered by an approved technology plan, check the expiration date of the plan. For FY2014 services to be covered, your approved technology plan must cover services through at least June 30, 2015.
• If you wrote a new technology plan before you filed your FCC Form 470 for FY2014, make sure you understand the technology plan approval process for your state and/or your entity type. You should be actively working to get your technology plan through the appropriate approval process and approved no later than July 1, 2014 in order for it to cover FY2014 services.

You should also organize and file your documents that relate to technology planning. At a minimum, these include:

• A dated copy of the technology plan that was written before your FCC Form 470 was filed. (Currently approved plans that cover at least part of the upcoming funding year and support the services requested on the FCC Form 471 meet this requirement.) Note that if a funding request for FY2014 is based on a multi-year contract that has already been in effect for several years, you may still need to refer to the technology plan that served as the basis for the establishing FCC Form 470 for that multi-year contract AS WELL AS the technology plan that covers the upcoming funding year.
• A copy of the final approved technology plan.
• A copy of the approval letter or other proof of approval from the USAC-certified Technology Plan Approver that approved your technology plan. The letter should clearly state the period for which the plan is approved, for example: "This technology plan is approved for the three-year period starting July 1, 2014 and ending June 30, 2017."

Prepare for PIA review.

If you have all of your documentation in order, you should be in good shape for PIA review. Remember to respond promptly to any PIA requests for information or documentation. You can ask for additional time to respond if you need it. We will cover PIA review in more detail in future editions of the SL News Brief.

Monitor your preferred mode of contact.

Many applications cannot be reviewed without reaching out to the applicant for additional information. If information is needed, USAC will attempt to contact applicants using their preferred mode of contact for both problem resolution of forms submitted on paper and for PIA review. Be sure to monitor the preferred mode of contact you indicated on your form so that you can receive and promptly respond to any questions from USAC.

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