January 25, 2019

Funding Year (FY) 2019 Window Countdown

TIP OF THE WEEK: If you have not completed your invoicing for FY2017 non-recurring services, you must certify your final invoice or request an invoice deadline extension by 11:59 p.m. EST this Monday, January 28, 2019. USAC cannot process invoices or invoice deadline extension requests that are not timely filed.

Commitments for Funding Year 2018

Funding Year 2018. USAC released FY2018 Wave 42 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on January 25. As of January 25, FY2018 commitments total over $2.10 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).

Erratum

In the FY2019 Window Countdown section of last week's SL News Brief, the form numbers were transposed. The FCC Form 470 count was 13,329 and the FCC Form 471 count was 571. The online version of this issue has been corrected.

E-rate Office Hours

During the FY2019 application filing window, USAC will conduct a series of office hour webinars which will focus on specific E-rate topics covered in our online E-rate Program Training Series.

Here is how the process will work:

• We will post a list of the office hour webinars on the Webinars page on the USAC website soon. Each webinar will include the topic, the date and time, the recommended audience, the E-rate experience level (beginner, advanced, general) and the specific training module(s) that attendees should review in advance of the webinar. Note that we may hold more than one webinar on the same day.
• If you are interested in attending, register for the webinar and watch the training module(s).
• When the webinar starts, we will provide instructions on how to ask questions, go over a short summary of the module(s) you should have reviewed, and then open the floor for questions.
• Attendees will use the webinar's chat function to ask questions. We will identify questions of general interest that come in through the chat function and read and respond to them verbally, and also answer more specific questions individually using the chat function. As with our regular webinars, we will give preference to questions about the topic under discussion.

Because the first office hour webinars will be held next week, we are providing the details below. Remember to register using the appropriate link on the Webinars page once the full schedule is posted.

Extensions for Participants Affected by California Wildfires

On January 3, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an order (DA 19-15) that waives specific E-rate Program deadlines that occurred on or after October 8, 2017 for schools and libraries located in the areas affected by the Northern California wildfires that occurred in October 2017. The fires caused power outages and damage to communications services, affecting the participation of schools and libraries in the E-rate Program.

Program participants in the affected area have until April 3, 2019 to submit the following filings to USAC:

• Requests for review or waiver of decisions by USAC, directed to USAC or the FCC.
• FCC Form 486 (Receipt of Service Confirmation and Children’s Internet Protection Act Certification (CIPA) Form).
• FCC Form 472 (Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) Form) and FCC Form 474 (Service Provider Invoice Form). *By waiving the invoicing deadline, the FCC also extended the deadline to submit a Service Provider Identification Number (SPIN) change request.

Next Steps for Affected Entities

To take advantage of the deadline extensions referenced in the Order you must notify USAC that an extension is needed.

The first step is to open a customer service case in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC).

At the beginning of the case nickname, enter the code "DA 19-15" to assist us in locating and responding to your questions or request.

The following information should be included in your customer service case: Funding Request Number(s) (FRNs), Billed Entity Number (BEN), Billed Entity name, the type of request you are seeking (i.e., invoice deadline extension) and a description of the request.

USAC will process these customer service cases to ensure the relevant filing deadline is extended.

If you have questions about the waiver or next steps, you can submit a customer service case or contact the Client Services Bureau (CSB) at 1-888-203-8100.