January 24, 2020

Funding Year (FY) 2020 FCC Form 471 Filing Window Countdown

The Funding Year (FY) 2020 application filing window is open. The filing window will close on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 at 11:59:59 p.m. EDT.

Note, the last day to post an FCC Form 470 for FY2020 and still be able to timely certify an FCC Form 471 is Wednesday, February 26, 2020 (see January 3 SL News Brief).

TIP OF THE WEEK: January 28, 2020 is the deadline to invoice USAC for FY2018 non-recurring services. Unless you have already received an automatic or requested service delivery deadline extension, be sure to certify your invoices for these services or request an invoice deadline extension no later than January 28.

Commitments for Funding Years 2019 and 2018

Funding Year 2019. USAC released FY2019 Wave 43 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on January 23. As of January 24, FY2019 commitments total over $2.17 billion.

Funding Year 2018. USAC released FY2018 Wave 79 FCDLs on January 20. As of January 24, FY2018 commitments total over $2.27 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).

FRN Balance Confirmations Issued Next Week

Each year, USAC undergoes an agreed-upon-procedures (AUP) review. The firm performing the review emails a number of balance verifications ("confirmations") to applicants and service providers. The purpose of these confirmations is to verify that the balances reported by USAC on specific Funding Request Numbers (FRNs) match the balances in the records of the applicants and service providers.

Next week, the firm reviewing USAC will send confirmations to a number of applicants and service providers. Each confirmation features the balance reported by USAC on a specific FRN as of October 31, 2019.

Applicants and service providers should review their records and respond by either:

• Agreeing with the balance featured on the confirmation or
• If it is different, noting the balance as of October 31, 2019 on their records and explaining how they determined that balance.

The confirmations are being sent from confirmations@us.pwc.com. We ask that you check your email filters for messages from this domain name, and respond promptly to any confirmations you receive.

Reminder: Category One Services Drop-Down Reference Table

Applicants filing Category One service requests must choose an option for each of their requests from the drop-down list in the online FCC Form 470 in EPC. Before choosing an option, you should read through the entire list in the FCC Form 470 Category One Services Drop-Down Reference Table. This table includes three columns: a column with a description of each service, a column with the drop-down option or options you should choose for that type of service, and a column that indicates if a Request for Proposal (RFP) or similar document is required for that service.

Although these drop-down options have not changed from those available for FY2019, you should make sure that you understand the correct option or options to choose for the services you want to request.

E-rate Office Hour Webinars

During the Funding Year 2020 application filing window, USAC is conducting a series of office hour webinars which will focus on specific E-rate topics covered in our E-rate Program online training and video series.

Below is the schedule of webinars showing the topic, the time, the recommended audience, the E-rate experience level (beginner, advanced, all) and the specific training materials that attendees should review in advance of the webinar. Note that two different Eligible Services webinars, one advanced and one for beginners, are being held on the same day.

If you are interested in attending, register for the webinar and watch the training module(s) and/or other assigned materials.

When the webinar starts, we will provide instructions on how to ask questions, go over a short summary of the materials 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.