April 22, 2016

Note: Funding commitment information now appears at the bottom of the weekly SL News Brief to give more prominence to EPC-related information and guidance.

Updating Your Organization's Profile

At this point in the filing window, many applicants have certified their FCC Forms 470, waited 28 days, completed their bid evaluations, and chosen one or more service providers to provide service for the upcoming funding year.

Before starting the FCC Form 471, applicants should review their profiles once more to make sure all of their information is correct – especially the information that will be carried over into the FCC Form 471. If you start your FCC Form 471 and then have to change an entity type, you may have to delete your application and start over.

Below is a list of the most important areas of the organization profile to review and – if necessary – update in order to complete your FCC Form 471 correctly.

Organization information

The organization is the entity that will be filing the FCC Form 471 (the billed entity).

• School districts, library systems, and consortia must have a separate entity number to identify themselves as the billed entity. They cannot use the entity number of one of their eligible entities (e.g., an individual school or library, an administration building, or a consortium member) for the organization account.
• Independent schools and independent libraries do not need two entity numbers. Their entity number can serve to identify both the billed entity (the entity filing program forms) and the school or library itself.

Review and verify the following information for the organization. If you need to make changes, click the "Manage Organization" button at the top of the page:

• Organization name, contact information, applicant type, attributes (e.g., public or private).
• Account administrator. Your account administrator can give him- or herself full rights to be able to certify program forms.
• FCC Registration Number (FCC RN). Every billed entity filing program forms needs this number. If you do not have an FCC RN, you can request one from the FCC's CORES website.

Entity information - independent schools and school districts

School districts must enter certain information about each of their individual schools. Independent schools that are not part of a school district enter this information for themselves in addition to the billed entity information above.

Verify that the following information appears in each school's profile. If you need to make changes, click the "Manage Organization" button at the top of that school's profile page:

• School name, entity number, and contact information.
• Urban/rural status. If there is not an urban/rural status, click the "Manage Organization" button and add a space to the address to enable the "Verify My Address" button. If you click the button and accept the offered address, the system should be able to calculate the urban/rural status. If not, complete the "User Entered Urban/Rural Status" instead.
• School subtype and other information. You must complete the following:
  • Number of full-time students.
  • Number of part-time students.
  • Your approved CEP percentage if you answer "Yes" to "Community Eligibility Program (CEP)?" The system will then calculate the total number of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
  • The total number of students eligible for NSLP if you answer "No" to "Community Eligibility Program (CEP)?"
  • Peak number of part-time students. This is the greatest number of part-time students that attend this school at any point during the day. Your Category Two (C2) budget is calculated by adding the total number of students to the peak number of part-time students.
  • Answer "Yes" or "No" to the question "Does this organization have an endowment?" If you answer "Yes" you must also provide the value of the endowment.
  • Answer the "Alternative Discount Mechanism" question if the school does not participate in CEP.

Entity information - independent libraries and library systems

Library systems must enter certain information about each of their individual library branches. Independent libraries that are not part of a library system enter this information for themselves in addition to the billed entity information above.

Verify that the following information appears in each library branch's profile. If you need to make changes, click the "Manage Organization" button at the top of that library's profile page:

• Library branch name, entity number, and contact information.
• Urban/rural status. If there is not an urban/rural status, click the "Manage Organization" button and add a space to the address to enable the "Verify My Address" button. If you click the button and accept the offered address, the system should be able to calculate the urban/rural status. If not, complete the "User Entered Urban/Rural Status" instead.
• Library subtype and other information. Note that one and only one library must be designated as the main branch. (Independent libraries must designate themselves as the main branch.) For the main branch, you must also provide the public school district in which the main branch is located.
• Square footage and IMLS locale code. The first entry is necessary to calculate the library branch's C2 budget. The IMLS locale code is required if the library branch is urban (IMLS locale code of 11, 12, or 21) and is therefore eligible for a C2 budget of $5.00 per square foot rather than $2.30 per square foot.

Entity information - consortia

Consortia must have a complete list of their members in their profiles. Note that, in general, consortia cannot update profile information for their members.

The discount for a consortium is the simple average of the discounts of the members of the consortium. However, consortia can file multiple FCC Forms 471 and indicate on each form which members of the consortium are receiving services. The consortium discount for each form would be the simple average of the discounts of the consortium members featured on that form, even if not all of the members of the consortium are sharing all of the services listed on that form.

To review your list of consortium members, go to your landing page and click your consortium name in the "My Entities" section. Choose "Additional Information" from the left-hand menu, then "Related Organizations" from the Category menu, then "Consortia Members" from the Relationship Type menu.

To add or delete members, choose "Related Actions" from the left-hand menu of your landing page, then "Manage Organization Relationships." From this screen, you can "Add Consortium Member" or "Remove a Relationship" by clicking the appropriate button.

Contracts

In order to complete a funding request that cites a contract, the applicant must create a contract record in the organization's profile.

To create a contract record, go to the organization's landing page and click the organization's name (the first name under the My Entities section). Choose "Contracts" from the left-hand menu, then "Manage Contracts," then "Add a New Contract." You can then provide the information to create a contract record and, if you wish, upload a copy of the contract.

Once the contract record has been saved, it cannot be edited or deleted. If you wish to make changes to the contract, simply create a new record.

Connectivity Questions

Independent schools, independent libraries, school districts, and library systems must answer the connectivity questions before they can certify their FCC Form 471.

To do this, go to the organization's landing page and click the organization's name. Choose "Related Actions" from the left-hand menu, then "Manage Connectivity Questions." School districts and library systems must answer the system-wide Internet access questions; there are also questions for each individual school or library branch.

Last Week in "File Along with Me":

• Product/service details, function, and type of connection. Read More
• Bandwidth speed and connection info. Read More
• Cost calculation and recipients of service. Read More
• Your current state of connectivity. Read More
• Complete, review, and certify your form. Read More

"File Along with Me" is a blog that covers the E-rate Program application process step-by-step, and serves as a schedule you can follow to manage your application. Ready to join us? Read the Blog

Commitments for Funding Years 2015 and 2014

Funding Year 2015. USAC released Funding Year (FY) 2015 Wave 46 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on April 21 and will release Wave 47 FCDLs on April 28. These waves include commitments for approved requests for all service types and at all discount levels. As of April 22, FY2015 commitments total over $3.23 billion.

Funding Year 2014. USAC will release FY2014 Wave 80 FCDLs on April 27. This wave includes commitments for approved Priority 1 (Telecommunications Services and Internet Access) requests at all discount levels. As of April 22, FY2014 commitments total over $2.28 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.