April 10, 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, April 29, 2020 at 11:59:59 p.m. EDT.

FCC Form 471 counts as of yesterday, 9:00 p.m. EDT

TIP OF THE WEEK: Now is a good time to collect and retain the documentation of your competitive bidding process while it is still easy to find. Save copies of your FCC Form 470, your request for proposal (RFP) and RFP documents, the winning and losing bids, questions asked by potential bidders and the answers you provided, your bid evaluation matrices, and your contracts (along with any other evidence of a legally binding agreement).

Commitments for Funding Year 2019

Funding Year 2019. USAC released FY2019 Wave 54 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on April 9. As of April 10, FY2019 commitments total over $2.29 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).

How to Cancel a Copied FRN

Applicants who are working on an FCC Form 471 have the option of copying a funding request from another FCC Form 471 from the current or a previous funding year. Because EPC creates a Funding Request Number (FRN) to identify each funding request, we refer to this function as "Copy FRN." When you copy an FRN, EPC creates a new FRN in your current form using the details of the FRN you copied. You must then review the details of the new FRN and make any necessary changes or updates appropriate to your current form.

If you decide during your review that you want to cancel the new FRN, you cannot use the CANCEL button at the bottom of the screen to do so, because by using the Copy FRN function you have already provided FRN data in subsequent screens. Instead, take the following steps:

• Navigate to the "FRN Summary" screen. This is the screen that features the prominent blue Add FRN button where all your FRNs are listed.
  • If you are in the middle of reviewing your new FRN and you decide that you want to cancel it, move through all the review screens using the CONTINUE button in the lower right-hand corner of each screen. You will then return to the "FRN Summary" screen.
• Check the box to the left of the copied FRN that you want to cancel and click the Select button.
• You will then have the option to click the REMOVE FRN button to permanently remove the copied FRN.

Contract Reminders

For those applicants who have chosen their service providers and are getting ready to file an FCC Form 471, here are some contract reminders:

Contract details are entered in a contract record in your organization's EPC profile

If you are receiving services under a contract, you must create a contract record in your organization's profile in EPC for the contract. You then cite that contract record when you create funding requests on the FCC Form 471 for services provided under the contract.

You do not necessarily need to create a new contract record if you have a multi-year contract or a contract with voluntary extensions.

• For a multi-year contract, when you are creating a funding request on your FCC Form 471, you can search for and then cite to the contract record.
• For a contract with voluntary extensions, work with your current service provider to exercise the extension. On the FCC Form 471, you can cite to the existing contract record and then indicate the expiration date of the exercised extension.

Services provided under a contract are considered contracted services

If you sign a contract – even for services that are provided under tariff – we consider those services to be contracted services. Before you file your FCC Form 471, create a contract record for your contract in your profile so that you can cite that contract on your form.

Services provided without a contract – that is, services provided under tariff or on a month-to-month basis – must be rebid each year. To receive discounts on these services, you must certify an FCC Form 470 for that funding year, run a competitive bidding process, evaluate the bids received, and choose the most cost-effective solution.

How to create a contract record for a pre-existing contract

If you considered a pre-existing contract (a contract signed without the posting of an FCC Form 470) as a bid response to your FY2020 FCC Form 470, you can evaluate that contract along with the other bids you receive. When you perform your bid evaluation, you can choose your pre-existing contract as the winning bid if it is the most cost-effective solution.

In this situation, when you create your contract record in EPC, enter the date you decided to stay with your current contract as your contract award date. This date must be at least 28 days after you posted your FCC Form 470.

For state master contracts, cite the correct FCC Form 470 on your funding request

Applicants who are eligible to purchase services from a state master contract must cite the correct FCC Form 470 on their FCC Form 471 funding request. Here are the most common state master contract situations and the correct FCC Form 470 to cite:

• The state posted an FCC Form 470 and chose a single winner. The applicant cites the state's FCC Form 470.
• The state posted an FCC Form 470 and chose more than one winner. The applicant must conduct a mini-bid to choose the most cost-effective solution from among the winners that can provide service. The applicant cites the state's FCC Form 470.
• The applicant posted an FCC Form 470 and chose a state master contract to consider as a bid response. The applicant must also consider ALL other state master contracts that can provide the services as bid responses along with any other bids received, and choose the most cost-effective solution. The applicant cites its own FCC Form 470, even if the state also posted an FCC Form 470.
• The applicant posted an FCC Form 470 and received a bid response from a service provider who already has a contract with the state. The applicant can consider that bid response with any other bids received, but does not have to include other state contracts in its evaluation. The applicant cites its own FCC Form 470, even if the state also posted an FCC Form 470.

To be eligible for discounts, state replacement contracts must comply with all of the state replacement contract requirements

We refer to a state replacement contract as a state master contract that will replace another state master contract sometime after the application filing window closes. The entries on the FCC Form 471 will differ, depending on when the original contract expires:

• If the original contract expires before the funding year starts – in other words, you will only be receiving service under the state replacement contract – refer to Scenario A.
• If the original contract expires after the funding year starts – in other words, you will be receiving service under the original contract for part of the funding year and under the replacement contract for part of the funding year – refer to Scenario B.

The original state master contract must have been signed pursuant to an FCC Form 470 filed by the state, and the applicant must cite to that FCC Form 470 on its FCC Form 471. (Note that the state must also post a new FCC Form 470 to open the competitive bidding process at the appropriate time for the replacement contract.) The state must review and follow all the steps in the State Replacement Contract guidance on the USAC website so that the services under the state replacement contract will be eligible for discounts.