June 16, 2016

USAC Releases First Funding Wave for FY2016

Earlier today, USAC released Funding Year (FY) 2016 Wave 1 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs). Wave 1 includes more than $17.7 million in commitments for 2,251 approved applications for all service types and at all discount levels.

Applicants and service providers generate their FCDLs for FY2016 in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC).

To learn how to generate and view your FCDLs, you can watch the FCDL videos – one for applicants and one for service providers – on the Funding Commitment Decision Letter video page. You can also follow the instructions in the June 3 SL News Brief or the instructions below. 

Here is the process for generating your FCDL:

• The contact person on the FCC Form 471 receives an email notifying him or her that the FCDL is ready to be generated. The contact person logs in to EPC. FCDL notifications are listed in the Notifications section at the top of the organization's landing page. Click on the text "Generate Notification" to the right of the FCDL you want to generate. The text will then change to "View Notification."
• All full- or partial-rights user can generate the FCDL from the Notifications section of the organization's landing page by clicking "Generate Notification" to the right of the FCDL. You do not have to wait for the contact person to do this. The text will then change to "View Notification."
• Any user can view the FCDL by clicking "View Notification" to the right of the FCDL.

When you click "View Notification," you are taken directly to the FCDL in the News feed.

• An applicant FCDL has three parts; a service provider FCDL has four. These are:
  • The text of the letter in the News feed format.
  • An FCDL supplement in PDF format that contains additional program information.
  • A report in CSV format that provides the details of the funding decision.
  • (Service providers only) A report with the file extension "FSP" (the FSP extension identifies the file as a service provider FCDL report – it is not a file type) for service providers who are set up to process electronic notifications in their systems.

FY2016 wave information will be available from two of the tools on the Search Tools page on the USAC website.

• Search Commitments for FY2016. In the short term, there will be a link in the "Funding Tools" section of the Search Tools page to FY2016 commitment information in a spreadsheet format. The information for each subsequent wave will be added to the spreadsheet as a new tab. In the longer term, this link will direct users to a new search tool for FY2016 that will be similar in appearance and function to the existing Search Commitments tool.
• FY2016 FCC Form 471 "Current" View. After an FCC Form 471 has been through a commitment wave, the "current" view of the form will be available, along with the "original" view. The information featured on the current view will include all approved Receipt Acknowledgment Letter (RAL) modifications submitted by the applicant and any changes that occurred during the application review process. To access the current view, go to the View/Download FCC Forms 471 for FY2016 tool and choose "Current" in the Form Version dropdown menu. The current view of a form is generally available a day or two after the wave runs. Note that forms that have not been through the wave process will not show up in the search results.

To subscribe, click here: Subscribe
©1997-2016, Universal Service Administrative Company, All Rights Reserved.
USAC | 2000 L Street NW | Suite 200 | Washington, DC 20036