September 20, 2019

TIP OF THE WEEK: You can still register for one of our fall applicant training sessions. If you would like to attend one of the training sessions outside of the Washington DC area, please review the information below and register for the session that is most convenient for you.

Commitments for Funding Year 2019

Funding Year 2019. USAC released Funding Year (FY) 2019 Wave 25 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on September 19. As of September 20, FY2019 commitments total over $1.75 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).

Reminder about New Field on FCC Form 498

In the August 16 SL News Brief, we notified program participants with approved FCC Forms 498 to provide an entry in the new Business Type field that now appears on the form. Earlier this week, we sent an email reminder to all program participants who have not yet chosen an entry from the drop-down menu for this field.

Please provide an entry in this field and re-certify the form at your earliest convenience.

For more information about this requirement, you can refer to the email your received earlier this week and the August 16 SL News Brief.

Update on Registration for Fall Applicant Training

The two applicant training sessions in Washington DC will be finished at the end of the day today. However, you can still register and attend any of the training sessions outside of DC. As a reminder, the dates and locations of the open sessions appear below:

• September 23 – 24 at Brookhaven College, Farmers Branch, TX
• October 2 – 3 at Harper College, Palatine, IL
• October 16 – 17 at Clark College, Vancouver, WA (morning Tribal session October 16)
• October 22 – 23 at Raritan Valley Community College, North Branch, NJ
• October 31 – November 1 at California State University San Marcos, San Marcos, CA
• November 19 at Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK (Tribal one-day session)
• November 21 at San Juan College, Farmington, NM (Tribal one-day session)

Please note the following:

• The two-day sessions will start with an optional half-day afternoon session targeted to beginners, followed by a full-day training for everyone that includes separate breakout sessions for beginners and for more advanced users.
• The above sessions include three dates and locations that include content of particular interest to Tribal applicants. The Tribal session in Washington state is a morning session that precedes a regular half-day beginner session and full-day general session. The other two are stand-alone one-day sessions.

For detailed information on each training, you can refer to the 2019 Training page. To register for a session, click the blue Register Here button on the 2019 Training page.

Invoicing Reminders for Applicants and Service Providers

October 28, 2019 is the deadline to file an invoice or to request an invoice deadline extension for most FY2018 recurring service Funding Request Numbers (FRNs). This invoice deadline applies to both applicant and service provider invoices – FCC Form 472 (BEAR Form) and FCC Form 474 (SPI Form), respectively.

We are providing the following reminders to help you get ready. We strongly advise both applicants and service providers to use this information to complete your invoicing activities for these services by the October 28 deadline or to request an extension.

For applicants and service providers who have an approved FCC Form 498, review the information on your form for accuracy.

Inaccurate information – especially inaccurate bank account information – may delay the processing of your invoice and/or payment on that invoice. Remember that USAC no longer issues paper checks, but relies on the banking information from this form to process payments electronically.

For applicants who intend to file BEAR Forms but do not have an approved FCC Form 498 on file with USAC, complete and certify this form as soon as possible.

Applicants file this form in EPC.

• Your School or Library Official can complete and certify the form.
• Your General Financial Contact can complete but not certify the form.
• Contact your EPC account administrator if you cannot access your FCC Form 498 in EPC. It is probably because you do not have rights to one or both of the above roles.

After you have completed and certified this form, you must provide proof of your banking information. You can upload this information after you have certified the form so that USAC can review and approve it.

For assistance in filing and certifying this form, you can call the Client Service Bureau (CSB) at 888-203-8100. You can also review the August 2 SL News Brief and the FCC Form 498 Filing Guide for Applicants.

For applicants who intend to file BEAR Forms but do not have a Personal Identification Number (PIN), request one as soon as possible.

Applicants request a PIN by filing a customer service case in EPC and uploading a completed PIN Request Template to the case. You should receive your PIN within two weeks.

If you have not received your PIN after two weeks, please reopen your original customer service case and let us know so that we can locate or regenerate your PIN and resend it to you.

For more information about PINs, you can call CSB. You can also review the August 23 SL News Brief and the PIN page on the USAC website.

Request an invoice deadline extension if you are not ready to complete your invoices for FY2018 recurring services.

If there is a chance that you will not be able to complete your invoices by the October 28 deadline, request an invoice deadline extension now. There is no penalty for requesting an invoice deadline extension and not using it.

Both applicants and service providers can request an invoice deadline extension in EPC by following the steps below:

For FRNs from FY2016 and subsequent funding years:

• Applicants:
  • On your landing page, click the link to the billed entity record (the name in the "Welcome!" link near the top of the page or the first entry under the My Entities section).
  • Select the Related Actions menu and choose Invoice Deadline Date Extension Request.
  • Enter the FRN(s) you would like to extend, separated by commas.
  • Click the Check Eligibility button. All of the FRNs from your list that can be extended will appear on a grid.
  • Click Submit.
  • Review the resulting News post for the results.
• Service providers:
  • From the Records tab at the top of any EPC page, click the Service Providers option.
  • Use the Search function to locate your service provider record.
  • Select the Related Actions menu and choose Invoice Deadline Date Extension Request.
  • Enter the FRN(s) you would like to extend, separated by commas.
  • Click the Check Eligibility button. All of the FRNs from your list that can be extended will appear on a grid.
  • Click Submit.
  • Review the resulting News post for the results.

Notice for Applicants Updating the FCC Form 498

In the August 23 SL News Brief, we notified applicants that EPC was replacing the information in the Remittance Contact section with the General Financial Contact information when applicants were updating existing forms or filing new forms.

This issue has been fixed. We apologize for any inconvenience.