December 7, 2018

Commitments for Funding Year 2018

Funding Year 2018. USAC released Funding Year (FY) 2018 Wave 35 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on December 7. As of December 7, FY2018 commitments total over $1.98 billion.

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

Focus on Participant Experience

In 2018, USAC improved the E-rate Program's operational efficiency by refining EPC to process applications more quickly and adjust to large volumes. As we look toward 2019, we will build on those advances with a steady focus on strengthening the E-rate participant experience.

We will serve participants better by adding extra applicant and service provider support, transitioning our E-rate business process operations and implementing enhancements to create a better experience for the E-rate community. USAC has expanded our participant support teams to ensure a smooth and orderly transition process with minimal impacts on the E-rate community.

E-rate participants with open applications, invoices or post-commitment requests will receive additional information to help guide them through the transition. USAC is working hard to address as many open participant issues as we can before the end of the year, and we appreciate the E-rate community's patience as we analyze and work open cases.

Most participants will not notice any changes in their E-rate experience during the transition and will see customer service improvements when it is complete.

Reminders for the Administrative Window

Each year, USAC opens an administrative window in EPC so that applicants can update their profile information in advance of the FCC Form 471 application filing window. During this time, profiles are unlocked, and account administrators and full- and partial-rights users can make any necessary updates.

In early January 2019, the administrative window will close. At that time, applicants will no longer be able to update their profile information directly in EPC. To request updates after that time, applicants must wait until after the application filing window opens and they have certified an FCC Form 471. At that time, they can submit a Receipt Acknowledgment Letter (RAL) modification.

• To submit a RAL modification, navigate to your certified FCC Form 471 in EPC. Choose Submit Modification Request (RAL) from the Related Actions menu. You can then follow the prompts to provide your updated information.
• If you need to add a new school to your school district or a new library to your library system, remember that you cannot create a new entity, even if you are the account administrator. For assistance in creating a new entity, open a customer service case in EPC or call the Client Service Bureau (CSB) at 888-203-8100. After CSB has created the new entity, you can then locate that entity in EPC and request in your RAL modification that it be associated with your school district or library system.

All applicants should review their current profile information. USAC has already updated applicant profiles in EPC using the reviewed and approved profile information from their FY2018 FCC Forms 471, but you may have additional updates to make due to information that changed after your FCC Form 471 was reviewed and approved.

Here are a few reminders of fields that you should check for accuracy:

All Billed Entities

• Verify that your FCC Registration Number (FCC RN) is correct. If your application includes child entities (individual schools in a school district or library branches in a library system), you do not need FCC RNs for those child entities.
• Review your address and contact information and make any necessary updates. If you have child entities, review and update their information as well.
• You do not need to update your connectivity questions at this time. Answers to connectivity questions that you provided in previous funding years will still be viewable in the EPC form records.

School districts

• Update the student counts for the students attending each of your schools.
  • Use the most recent student information available, which may mean entering or keeping last year's numbers if you do not yet have this year's numbers.
  • Be sure to review your entries for the "peak part-time student counts" for each school if they have part-time students. This is the greatest number of part-time students at a single point during the school day, NOT the total number of part-time students that attend the school during the course of the entire school day.

Independent schools

• Update your student counts.
  • Use the most recent student information available, which may mean entering or keeping last year's numbers if you do not yet have this year's numbers.
  • Be sure to review your entry for the "peak part-time student counts" if you have part-time students. This is the greatest number of part-time students at a single point during the school day, NOT the total number of part-time students that attend the school during the course of the entire school day.

Library systems

• Review the entries for the square footage of each of your library branches to make sure they are correct.
• Verify that you have identified the library branch that serves as the main branch for your library system.
• Review the entries for the IMLS locale codes for each of your library branches, and provide entries for those that are blank. Remember that libraries with IMLS codes of 11, 12, or 21 can qualify for a higher Category Two budget.

Independent libraries

• Review the entry for the square footage of your library to make sure it is correct.
• Identify yourself as the library that serves as the main branch.
• Review the entry for the IMLS locale code for your library, and provide an entry if it is blank. Remember that libraries with IMLS codes of 11, 12, or 21 can qualify for a higher Category Two budget.

Consortia

• Review your list of consortium members to make sure it is accurate. You can add or remove consortium members through the Manage Organization Relationships function in your profile.
• Remind your members to update their profiles so that the discount calculations and other program information will be accurate.