November 22, 2019

TIP OF THE WEEK: Don't forget to update your E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) profiles. All applicants can now review their profiles and make any additional updates for changes that occurred after USAC's review of their Funding Year (FY) 2019 FCC Forms 471. As in the past, the EPC administrative window to update profiles will close – and the applicant profiles will be locked – shortly before the FY2020 application filing window opens.

NOTE: USAC will not issue an SL News Brief next Friday, November 29 due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Also, the Client Service Bureau (CSB) will be closed Thursday, November 28 and Friday, November 29.

Commitments for Funding Years 2019 and 2018

Funding Year 2019. USAC released FY2019 Wave 34 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on November 21. As of November 22, FY2019 commitments total over $1.98 billion.

Funding Year 2018. USAC released FY2018 Wave 70 FCDLs on November 18. As of November 22, FY2018 commitments total over $2.24 billion.

On the date that FCDLs are issued, you can access your FCDL notification from the Notifications section of your landing page in EPC.

EPC Deployment News

This weekend, USAC will deploy the following user interface updates to the EPC system:

Record type search

When users click the Records tab, they will now see three columns of record types and a search box to help locate a specific type of record.

Record links

Record document links are now displayed in black and white instead of blue and white.

Related Actions pop-up window in records

When users click Related Actions from a record, the related action form will open as a pop-up window.

Updated USAC Website

USAC launched its updated version of the USAC website on November 11. We will continue to provide information about the new features in the SL News Brief.  You can also refer to the SL News Briefs on November 1 and November 15 for more information.

The site's navigation is new but the content mostly hasn't changed. However, some resource pages look and function differently than they did before.

• Tools includes links to E-rate Program tools. If you click the "+" sign next to the link, it will provide a description of the tool and available user guides.
• Forms provides a list of program forms for applicants and service providers, links to the associated system to file each form, and links to more information about the form, including user guides.
• Glossary of Terms is now a searchable list of key program terms. Use the Search box to search by key word or jump to an area of the alphabetized list of terms by using the linked alphabet list below the Search box. 
• FAQs are now searchable by keyword and by topics. Enter terms in the Keyword Search box or select a topic from the All Topics drop-down menu.

The above items are located in the E-rate mega menu under Resources. You can locate the E-rate mega menu by going to the top of any USAC.org webpage, and hovering your cursor over "E-rate." The mega menu will appear and continue to be displayed as long as you keep your cursor on "E-rate" or on another area of the mega menu. 

December Webinar

We are hosting our next webinar, Preparing for FY2020 on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. ET. This webinar is designed for applicants and service providers of all E-rate experience levels. In this webinar, we will provide tips on how program participants can update their entity profiles in EPC and provide other important reminders to help participants prepare for the FY2020 application filing window. During the webinar, the audience will have the opportunity to take part in a live question-and-answer session with members of the E-rate Program team where we will answer questions related to the webinar topic. You can use this link to register for the event.

Go to the Webinars page on the USAC website for more information on webinars and to view recordings of past events.