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October 11, 2019
TIP OF THE WEEK: 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 filed that now appears on the form. Please provide an entry in the field and re-certify the form as soon as possible.
Commitments for Funding Years 2019 and 2018
Funding Year 2019. USAC released FY2019 Wave 28 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on October 10. As of October 11, FY2019 commitments total over $1.86 billion.
Funding Year 2018. USAC released FY2018 Wave 64 FCDLs on October 7. As of October 11, FY2018 commitments total over $2.23 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 EPC Administrative Window is Open
Review and update your EPC profiles now. Each year, USAC updates applicant profiles in EPC using the reviewed and approved profile information from their current year FCC Forms 471. We do this so that applicants can start the application process for the upcoming funding year with information in their profiles that is accurate as of the date of their FCDL.
USAC has now completed this process for almost every applicant that had updates in advance of the FY2020 application cycle. All applicants can now review their profiles and make any additional updates for changes that occurred after USAC's review of their FY2019 FCC Forms 471. As in the past, the EPC administrative window will close – and the applicant profiles will be locked – shortly before the FY2020 application filing window opens.
We will provide more information and reminders about profile updates in upcoming editions of the SL News Brief to help participants get ready for the upcoming filing window.
Update on Registration for Fall Applicant Training
We still have space available for all remaining fall applicant training sessions. If you are interested in attending a session or need more information, you can refer to the 2019 Training page. Once you have chosen a session, you can click the blue Register Here button to register.
The dates and locations of the remaining sessions are:
- October 16 – 17 at Clark College, Vancouver, WA (morning Tribal session October 16)
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October 22 – 23 at Raritan Valley Community College, North Branch, NJ
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October 31 – November 1 at California State University San Marcos, San Marcos, CA
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November 13 – 14 at Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center, Atlanta, GA
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November 19 at Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK (Tribal one-day session)
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November 21 at San Juan College, Farmington, NM (Tribal one-day session)
Reminder of Three October Deadlines
October 28, 2019 is the deadline for most program participants to:
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Certify an invoice for FY2018 recurring services.
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Request a one-time, 120-day extension of the deadline to file invoices for FY2018 recurring services.
October 29, 2019 is the deadline for many program participants to:
- Certify an FCC Form 486, Receipt of Service Confirmation and Children's Internet Protection Act Certification Form, for FY2019.
We have covered the October 28 deadline for invoices and for requesting an invoice deadline extension at length in the September 20, 2019 SL News Brief, and we encourage you to review the information detailed information we provided. Specifically, you should request an invoice deadline extension now if you feel that you will not be able to complete your invoicing for FY2018 recurring services by October 28.
Below we include specific information on the October 29 deadline for certifying the FCC Form 486 for FY2019.
FCC Form 486
After applicants have received an FCDL with a positive funding commitment and services have started for the funding year, they must file an FCC Form 486.
The FCC Form 486 is filed to accomplish the following:
For members of a consortium or in other situations where the entity filing the FCC Form 486 is not the Administrative Authority for purposes of CIPA, recipients of service may need to file the FCC Form 479, Certification of Administrative Authority to Billed Entity of Compliance with the Children's Internet Protection Act, with the entity that will file the FCC Form 486 on their behalf. In this situation, the FCC Form 479 provides the information necessary for the Billed Entity to complete the appropriate CIPA certification(s) and successfully submit the FCC Form 486.
Filing FCC Form 486 for FY2019 services
For many applicants, October 29 is the deadline for certifying an FCC Form 486 for FY2019.
The FCC Form 486 filing deadline is calculated as follows:
whichever is later.
Applicants whose services start after July 1, 2019 or whose FCDLs are dated after July 1, 2019 (including any that have not yet been issued) will have an FCC Form 486 deadline later than October 29. However, we encourage you to certify your FCC Form 486 as soon as possible after services start for FY2019 and you can accurately make all of the certifications on the form.
To start an FCC Form 486, click the File Online link under the FCC Form 486 header on the Forms page to log in to EPC. You can then click the FCC Form 486 link at the top of your landing page.
FCC Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letter
If we believe your FCC Form 486 is late based on the deadline calculation described above, we will send you an FCC Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letter to remind you of the upcoming deadline. Note that we use the service start date you reported on your FCC Form 471 to determine when to send the letter, so if your service start date has changed, your deadline may have changed as well.
This letter is posted to your News feed in EPC, and we also send an email to the contact person on the FCC Form 471. These letters will start going out on October 30, 2019 for FY2019 commitments.
You have 15 days after the date of this letter to certify your FCC Form 486 without penalty. Again, if your service start date has changed, the service start date you enter on your certified FCC Form 486 will determine whether we must apply a penalty for late filing.
Penalty for certifying an FCC Form 486 late
If you wait more than 15 days to certify your form – or if the service start date you report on your FCC Form 486 is more than 120 days before the date you certify your form – we will adjust your service start date to the date 120 days before the date you certify your form. This adjusted service start date will appear on your FCC Form 486 Notification Letter in EPC, and we will not pay discounts for services received before that adjusted date.
Please plan to get these three program activities completed before the relevant October deadline if you have not already done so.
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