January 18, 2019

Funding Year (FY) 2019 Window Countdown

TIP OF THE WEEK: January 28, 2019 is the deadline for applicants and service providers to submit invoices for FY2017 non-recurring services. If you believe you will be unable to submit your invoices by this deadline, be sure to request an invoice deadline extension on or before January 28.

Commitments for Funding Year 2018

Funding Year 2018. USAC released Funding Year (FY) 2018 Wave 41 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on January 16. As of January 18, FY2018 commitments total over $2.09 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).

The FY2019 Application Filing Window Is Now Open

The Funding Year (FY) 2019 FCC Form 471 application filing window opened on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, at 12:00 noon EST and will close on Wednesday, March 27, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. The last day to timely file an FCC Form 470 is Wednesday, February 27, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

The FCC Forms 470 and 471 must be filed in EPC. The dates and times above apply to the time the form is certified in EPC. If you complete all of the required information on the form before the deadline but certify it after the deadline, it will not be considered as timely filed.

FY2019 FCC Form 471 – What's New

Voice Services – Voice services will no longer be eligible for discounts in FY2019, so the voice services options do not appear on the form.

Connectivity Questions – Connectivity questions are no longer included on the form. Answers to these questions were previously created or updated in your profile and automatically included at the end of your FCC Form 471 application. You will, however, be able to view the answers you have provided on your FCC Forms 471 from previous funding years.

New Category Two Drop-Down Options – "License," "Transceiver," and "Module" were added to the Category Two services drop-down menu, because these were the most common entries provided by applicants in the "Other" drop-down option for FY2018.

State Match Requests – The form now has an option to indicate the availability of state match funding for networks that are not fiber-based (e.g., microwave network with special construction).

• Applicants may request additional E-rate discounts to match state funding for special construction projects that meet the FCC's long-term connectivity goals.
• The E-rate Program will increase an applicant's discount rate for the special construction charges up to an additional ten percent that match the state funding on a one-to-one dollar basis.

Certification Message – The certification confirmation page now includes a link to the form record.

Bulk Upload Templates – The bulk upload template for Internal Connections was updated to match the drop-down options in the FY2019 form.

Applicants with large numbers of eligible services and/or large numbers of recipients of service can prepare funding request data by completing the appropriate bulk upload template and then uploading the template to their FCC Form 471. Refer to the Bulk Upload User Guide for instructions on how to complete the templates.

The templates for FY2019 and their version numbers are:

• Category One - Data Transmission and/or Internet Access (v17.0)
• Category Two - Internal Connections (v19.0)
• Category Two - Managed Internal Broadband Services (MIBS) (v18.0)
• Category Two - Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections (v18.0)

As always, we are here to help. If you have questions about E-rate, please call our Client Service Bureau at (888) 203-8100.