March 13, 2020

Application Window Extended and Additional Time Given for PIA Reviews Due to COVID-19

The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) has directed USAC to extend the deadline for applicants to submit their FY2020 FCC Form 471 applications by an additional 35 days. E-rate applicants will now have until Wednesday, April 29, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. EDT to submit their FY2020 FCC Form 471 applications. The Bureau also directed USAC to provide all applicants with an automatic, 14-day extension for Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) requests. The actions were taken to minimize potential disruptions caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The public notice announcing the action can be found here.

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

The Funding Year (FY) 2020 application filing window has been extended and will now close on Wednesday, April 29, 2020, at 11:59:59 p.m. EDT. See announcement above.

Note that the last day to post an FCC Form 470 and still be able to timely certify an FCC Form 471 is Wednesday, April 1, 2020. 

TIP OF THE WEEK: If you have signed a contract for services starting in FY2020, you must create a contract record in your billed entity's profile in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) before you can complete your FCC Form 471 (see below). For a demonstration, go to the FCC Form 471 section of the Videos page on the USAC website, click the Load More button, and start the video on "How to Create a Contract Record."

Commitments for Funding Year 2019

Funding Year 2019. USAC released FY2019 Wave 50 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on March 12. As of March 13, FY2019 commitments total just under $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).

Getting Ready to File an FY2020 FCC Form 471

Below are reminders for some of the actions you should be undertaking before the application filing window closes.

Wait the full 28 days before selecting your service provider(s) and certifying your FCC Form 471.

You are required to wait at least 28 days after your FCC Form 470 is certified before you choose a service provider, sign a contract (if applicable), and certify your FCC Form 471.

• EPC will not allow you to create a contract record if the FCC Form 470 you try to cite on the record has not been posted for at least 28 days.
• For services provided under tariff or on a month-to-month basis, EPC will not allow you to finish entering a funding request for those services if the FCC Form 470 you cite on the request has not been posted for at least 28 days.

Make sure that you are able to work on an FCC Form 471.

Your account administrator must have created you as a user in EPC with rights to complete and/or certify the FCC Form 471. After your rights have been assigned, you can click the FCC Form 471 link at the top of your organization's landing page to start your form. Remember that new users must first accept the terms and conditions for EPC use by clicking on the appropriate task under the Task tab.

If you have access to the form but cannot enter information or take other actions, call our Client Service Bureau (CSB) at (888) 203-8100 so they can investigate.

Start your FCC Form 471, even if you are not ready to provide funding request details.

After you start your form, you can see your progress through the form by referring to the progress bar at the top of each page. If you need to stop before you have finished, the system will create a task for you under the Tasks tab. You can then click the task to return to your form at the point you left.

Be sure to review the following:

• Your organization's information (e.g., name, address, telephone number, attributes).
• Your related entities' information (e.g., name, address, urban/rural status, attributes, student counts for schools, library square footage and library main branch designation for libraries).
• Your organization's urban/rural designation and discount calculation.

Because entity profiles are locked, you will not be able to make any changes at this point. However, by making a note of any necessary updates, you will be ready to submit a Receipt Acknowledgment Letter (RAL) modification to inform us of those updates immediately after you certify your form.

Create a contract record for each new contract or legally binding agreement.

You must have a contract record in your profile for each contract or legally binding agreement you intend to cite on your FY2020 FCC Form 471. You then cite the contract record for each funding request for services that will be provided under that contract when you create the funding request on your form.

• If you created a contract record last year for a multi-year contract, you can cite that contract record this year.
• If you created a contract record last year for a contract with voluntary extensions, you do not need to create a new contract record if your extension covers services for FY2020. First, work with your service provider to exercise the extension for your FY2020 services. Then, when you cite that contract record on a funding request, enter the last date of service for FY2020 in the appropriate field on the funding request. You do not have to create a new contract record simply because you exercised your option to extend the contract.

Ask CSB to create missing entities for you.

CSB can create related entities (schools for school districts and libraries for library systems) for you if they are missing from your profile. If adding those entities will not affect discount calculations or cause other system problems, CSB can link those entities to your organization.

If CSB cannot make a change for you, you can certify your FCC Form 471 without the change and then submit a RAL modification to notify us of the correct information. We suggest that you also add the correct information to the narrative section of one of the funding requests on your form.

Create a customer service case in EPC to provide us with detailed information or if you want a written response to your question.

While we encourage you to call CSB to discuss your questions and issues, in some cases you may prefer to open a customer service case. CSB can work customer service cases when call volumes are lighter and still be able to respond within a reasonable timeframe. Do not wait until the last minute to contact us with questions or issues.

Here are some specific reasons that you may prefer to open a customer service case:

• Entity creation. For entity creation, we strongly encourage you to provide the entity details in written form, such as a spreadsheet, for requests for more than three entities. You can find the details we need under the Creating Entity Numbers heading on the Entity Numbers web page.
• Written response. We can provide a response in writing as an entry in a customer service case.
• Attached document. If you want to provide a document for our reference – for example, a copy of a letter or email you received from USAC that you have a question about – you can attach the document directly to a customer service case, which makes it easier for us to provide an accurate answer.