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May 2, 2014
TIP OF THE WEEK: SERVICE PROVIDERS: Review the contact mailing address information on your FCC Form 498 (Block 13, Items 114-118) to make sure it is correct. Update your FCC Form 498 with your current E-rate contact information if needed. USAC sends service provider versions of program letters using this address information from your most recent update to the FCC Form 498.
Commitments for Funding Years 2013 and 2012
Funding Year 2013. USAC will release Funding Year (FY) 2013 Wave 50 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) May 7. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 1 (Telecommunications Services and Internet Access) requests at all discount levels. As of May 2, FY2013 commitments total over $2.05 billion.
Funding Year 2012. USAC will release Funding Year (FY) 2012 Wave 84 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) May 6. 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 May 2, FY2012 commitments total over $2.86 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.
FY2014 Extended Deadline for FCC Form 471 Certifications and Item 21 Attachments
USAC will issue two sets of letters next week – one to applicants that filed an FCC Form 471 online before the close of the filing window but did not complete the certification process, the other to remind applicants to submit their Item 21 attachments. Both sets of letters will be issued on Tuesday, May 6; appropriate actions must be taken on or before Tuesday, May 27.
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If you do not certify your FCC Form 471 on or before May 27, it will be considered out-of-window. You can certify an FCC Form 471 online or on paper.
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If you do not submit an Item 21 attachment on or before May 27, the Block 5 Funding Request Number (FRN) associated with that Item 21 attachment will be considered out-of-window. You can submit an Item 21 attachment online, by email, by fax, or by mail or delivery service.
Each letter is discussed below.
Notification of FCC Form 471 With No Certification
USAC will issue just under 1,100 letters to applicants that filed an FY2014 FCC Form 471 online on or before 11:59 pm EDT March 26, 2014 but that have not yet certified that form. These letters notify applicants that they must certify their forms online or on paper on or before May 27 for those forms to be considered in-window.
In addition to issuing letters, USAC will post a list of FY2014 FCC Forms 471 that were timely filed online but not yet certified to the Schools and Libraries home page of the USAC website for reference.
Remember that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules require USAC to consider all in-window funding requests first and, except for FY1999, funding has not been sufficient to fund out-of-window requests.
You can certify your form online or on paper.
To certify online, you must have a PIN and the security code for the FCC Form 471 you filed online:
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Go to the Apply Online page and click the Certify Complete button in the FCC Form 471 column.
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Enter your FCC Form 471 application number and security code and click Electronic Certification.
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You will see your Block 6 certification page with the information you entered when you submitted your form online. You must enter your PIN and check the box to affirm that you understand that the use of your PIN is the same as your written signature.
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When you click the Done button at the bottom of the page, the system will return a CertID, a unique number that confirms your successful certification. We suggest that you click OK on the popup box and then print a copy of the resulting certification page, which will feature your CertID in the signature line as proof of your successful online certification.
To certify on paper:
Once your FCC Form 471 has been successfully certified, the status of that form will change to "Certified - Out Of Window" on the View 471 Status tool. After all of the paper certifications postmarked on or before the extended deadline have been processed, USAC will move all applications with timely filed certifications (both online and on paper) in-window.
Item 21 Attachment Urgent Reminder Letter
USAC will issue just under 3,520 letters to applicants that filed an FY2014 FCC Form 471 but did not file an Item 21 attachment for one or more of the FRN(s) featured on that form. These letters remind applicants that they must submit their Item 21 attachments on or before May 27 for the associated FRNs to be considered in-window.
USAC issued a letter for each FCC Form 471 that was missing at least one Item 21 attachment. Letters were issued for the following situations:
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An Item 21 attachment was not submitted.
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An Item 21 attachment was started online but the Submit button on the last page was not clicked. You must click the Submit button on the last page of the online Item 21 attachment to complete your submission.
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An Item 21 attachment was submitted by email, by fax, or by mail or delivery service but the FRN and/or FCC Form 471 application number associated with the Item 21 attachment was not clearly or correctly identified.
In addition to issuing letters, USAC will post a list of FY2014 FRNs that are missing Item 21 attachments to the Schools and Libraries home page of the USAC website for reference. Note that in many cases USAC issued this letter because we received and were able to locate and identify some but not all of the FRNs associated with your submission.
If 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.
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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 FCC Form 471 application number.
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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 27 for your FRNs to be considered in-window. 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.
Remember that the View 471 Status tool shows the status of an FCC Form 471, not the status of each FRN on that form.
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