January 6, 2017

Commitments for Funding Years 2016 and 2015

Funding Year 2016. USAC is scheduled to release Funding Year (FY) 2016 Wave 29 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on January 9. This wave includes commitments for approved applications for all service types and at all discount levels. As of January 6, FY2016 commitments total over $1.74 billion.

On the date the FCDLs are issued, you can access your FCDL notification from the Notifications section of your landing page in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC).

Winter Contact Period Ends Today

USAC has procedures to contact applicants and service providers if more information is necessary to complete its review of an application. To obtain this information, a Program Integrity Assurance (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, which for this winter was December 23 through today, January 6.

If our first attempt to reach you was on or after December 23, and we were not able to confirm by telephone that you were available to respond to our questions, we will not begin PIA review until after January 6. However, if we made a successful contact with you before December 23, your 15-day response clock 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 you have received questions from PIA about the review of your FCC Form 471, be sure to either respond to the questions promptly or request additional time to respond if you need it. 

Invoicing Reminder for FY2015 Non-recurring Services

In general, the deadline for invoicing USAC for FY2015 non-recurring services is January 30, 2017. (The customary deadline of January 28 falls on a Saturday, so filers have until Monday, January 30 to submit their invoices.)

Applicants and service providers should plan to either (1) complete their invoicing process for these services or (2) request an invoice deadline extension no later than the January 30 deadline. Applicants who intend to file FCC Form 472 (BEAR Form) should also verify that they have filed an FCC Form 498 and that it has been reviewed and approved by USAC.

We will provide a more detailed discussion in an upcoming future SL News Brief.

FCC Form 500 Now Available in EPC

The FCC Form 500, Funding Commitment Adjustment Request Form, is now available in EPC. This form is used to adjust funding commitments and/or modify the dates for receipt of services. Specifically, applicants use this form to accomplish one or more of the following:

• To adjust the funding year Service Start Date reported on a previously filed FCC Form 486.
• To adjust the contract expiration date listed on the FCC Form 471.
• To cancel a Funding Request Number (FRN).
• To reduce the committed amount of an FRN.
• To request a service delivery extension for non-recurring services.
• To notify USAC of an equipment transfer resulting from the closure of the location where the equipment was originally installed.

All applicants will start the FCC Form 500 in EPC by clicking the "FCC Form 500" link in the upper right-hand corner of their landing page.

In the near future, we will be posting a user guide to the online FCC Form 500 that will cover the filing process step by step.