July 17, 2020

TIP OF THE WEEK: Be sure to store the documentation you used to support your Funding Year (FY) 2020 FCC Form 471 funding requests, even if the review of your application has been completed. You must retain program documentation for at least 10 years after the latter of the last day of the applicable funding year or the service delivery deadline for the funding request.

Commitments for Funding Year (FY) 2020 and FY2019

FY2020. USAC released FY2020 Wave 11 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on July 16. As of July 17, FY2020 commitments total over $1.14 billion.

FY2019. USAC released FY2019 Wave 66 on July 15. As of July 17, FY2019 commitments total over $2.39 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).

MFA for EPC Users and BEAR Form Filers Is Coming on July 27

USAC will be adding multifactor authentication (MFA) to increase the security of Universal Service Fund (USF) IT applications. MFA is a method of authenticating a computer user during the login process by requiring the user to enter two or more separate pieces of information, such as a password known to the user and a code we generate and send to the user to enter in order to gain access.

MFA helps safeguard access to data and applications, and provides additional security by requiring a second form of user authentication. This complies with both Federal and FCC information security guidelines.

In order to have time to upload the necessary software, create the new One Portal accounts for EPC users and BEAR Form filers, and then test everything, we will start working at 9:00 pm EDT on Friday, July 24 and continue this work through the weekend. If you have activities to perform in EPC or you want to file BEAR Forms, please plan accordingly. We plan to send out emails notifying you that you can log in to your new One Portal accounts starting at 9:00 am EDT on Monday, July 27.

General information

As a reminder, we will create One Portal accounts for EPC users under their EPC username, and for BEAR Form filers who are not EPC users under their BEAR Form email address.

EPC users and BEAR Form filers will be able to log in to their One Portal accounts when they receive our email on the morning of July 27. After you log in to One Portal, you will see a dashboard with links to the application(s) you can access (your "entitlements"). For example, if your username in EPC is also the email address you use to file BEAR Forms, you will see links to EPC and the BEAR Form after you log in.

Note that you do not need to receive the email to start the login process as long as we have created an account for you. You can start the login process on Monday by clicking the blue Sign In button at the top of any page on USAC's website. You can then follow the remainder of the login steps below.

Please keep the following in mind:

• Add noreply@usac.org to your safe senders list so that you can receive your verification code.
• We are creating a One Portal account for each unique EPC username or BEAR Form email address. If you use the same email address for both applications, we will create one account that will provide access to both.
• For the near term, BEAR Form filers will need to retain their BEAR login information – Billed Entity Number (BEN), Personal Identification Number (PIN), email address, and last name. Your One Portal username will not carry over into the BEAR Form. Also, you only need one BEAR Form entitlement to access the BEAR Form login screen, even if you file BEAR Forms for more than one billed entity.
• Most service providers already have access to One Portal. If you have an EPC account, we will add access to EPC to your existing dashboard. For service provider users whose accounts were created only in EPC, we will create a One Portal account for you that provides access to EPC.

How to log in to One Portal for the first time

Here are the steps to log in to One Portal and update your account. We will also include these steps in the email we send on July 27:

1. Go to the USAC website and click the blue Sign In button at the top of the page.
2. Click the Continue button at the bottom of the instructions page.
3. On the following page, click Forgot Password.
4. Enter your username (your email address) and click Reset via Email.
5. We will send you an email with a link to reset your password. The link will be good for only one hour. You can click the link or copy and paste it into your browser.
6. You will be prompted to create a password, and then re-enter it. Your password must contain at least eight characters and include one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one number, and one special character (e.g., !, @, #, $, %, &, or =). Then click Continue.
7. Click Sign In. In the near future, this sign in step will include acceptance of the consolidated terms and conditions of use. Users who are not presented with these terms and conditions when they first log in to One Portal will be required to accept them once the terms and conditions have been deployed.
8. We will send a verification code to your email address. The code will be good for only ten minutes. Navigate to your email (don't close your browser) to get the code, then return to your browser window, enter the code in the field provided, and click Verify.
9. You will then go to your dashboard (if you access more than one application) or a pop-up (if you access only one application).
10. At this point, we suggest that you choose Manage Account Settings to provide additional account setup information. For example, you can provide a cell phone number or an alternative email address to receive your verification code when you log in the next time.
11. Note that your Manage Account Settings link appears in a popup message if you only have access to one USAC application, or a link in a dashboard if you have access to multiple applications. Check to be sure that you have access to all of the applications that you previously used.

If you have any difficulties logging in to One Portal, you can call the Client Service Bureau (CSB) at (888) 203-8100 for assistance.