December 18, 2014

Please note that USAC will not issue a News Brief next Friday, December 26. Also, the Client Service Bureau will be closed Thursday, December 25 and Friday, December 26.

Commitments for Funding Years 2014 and 2013

Funding Year 2014. USAC will release Funding Year (FY) 2014 Wave 33 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on December 24. These waves include commitments for approved Priority 1 (Telecommunications Services and Internet Access) requests at all discount levels. As of December 18, FY2014 commitments total just over $2.10 billion.  

Funding Year 2013. USAC will release FY2013 Wave 78 FCDLs on December 23. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 1 requests at all discount levels. As of December 18, FY2013 commitments total over $2.13 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.

Winter Contact Period Starts Tomorrow

USAC has procedures to contact applicants and service providers if more information is necessary to process a form. Below we discuss two of the most common situations where USAC needs more information:

• Problem Resolution. If USAC cannot data enter a paper form because information is missing or inconsistent, Problem Resolution will attempt to reach the contact person listed on the form (or in our database, if no contact information is provided on the form) to obtain the necessary information.
• Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) review. If USAC needs more information from an applicant to complete the review of an application, a PIA initial reviewer will use the contact information provided on the form to send questions and to inform the applicant of any correctable errors discovered on the form during review.

We realize that, during a summer period and a winter period each year, many applicants are unavailable due to extended holiday and break schedules.

• Our winter period is defined as the Friday before Christmas Day through the Friday after New Year's Day.
• The dates of the current winter period are December 19, 2014 through January 2, 2015.

If our first attempt to reach you is on or after December 19, and we cannot confirm by telephone that you are available to respond to our questions, we will not begin Problem Resolution or PIA review until after January 2. However, if we have made a successful contact with you before December 19, your 15-day response clock has started and we will act on the information we have on hand if we have not heard from you by the response deadline. We define a successful contact as:

• A sent email message with no return notification of non-delivery or out-of-office response
• A sent fax with a confirmation of successful transmission
• A voicemail left at the contact person's telephone number if the recorded greeting does not state that the contact person is out of the office
• A live person answering our call at the contact telephone number or a return call responding to our message.

If PIA has already contacted you and you wish to designate someone to answer questions in your absence, be sure to send your designee's contact information to your PIA reviewer. If PIA has not contacted you and your designee will be checking your messages, be sure that you have provided written authorization for your designee to answer questions about your application. PIA will request this authorization in case any changes need to be made.

Your designee should have sufficient knowledge of your application to respond accurately. If someone answers a call from PIA but is not in a position to answer PIA questions, make sure the PIA reviewer understands that the application review should be put on hold until you return.

Reminders:

• PIA will be actively reviewing applications during the winter period. If you can respond to PIA questions at this time, please do so - it will speed the processing of your application.
• If our first successful contact with you is before December 19, your 15-day response clock is ticking. Be sure to respond by the deadline or let us know that you need more time to prepare your response.
• Continue to monitor your preferred mode of contact if you are working. If you or your designee can respond to questions, the processing of your application can continue.
• If you are not available to respond to questions, it would be helpful for you to indicate this via your preferred mode of contact (e.g., an out-of-office message on email or voicemail). We will not continue to leave messages or send emails if we know you are unavailable.