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July 31, 2020
TIP OF THE WEEK: Before you start invoicing for Funding Year (FY)2020 services, check to make sure that the applicant has certified an FCC Form 486 and the service provider has certified an FCC Form 473 (SPAC Form). The FRN Status Tool shows service start dates for certified and approved FCC Form 486, and the Service Provider Download Tool and the SPIN Search Tool show the funding years with certified SPAC Forms.
Commitments for Funding Year (FY) 2020 and FY2019
FY2020. USAC released FY2020 Wave 13 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on July 30. As of July 31, FY2020 commitments total over $1.23 billion.
FY2019. USAC released FY2019 Wave 68 on July 29. As of July 31, FY2019 commitments total over $2.4 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 Troubleshoot Issues with MFA Access
USAC has added 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.
General information
As a reminder, we have created 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.
If we have created a One Portal account for you, we sent you an email on Monday, July 27, that included the steps to log in to One Portal. You can also find a list of those steps in the July 17 SL News Brief.
We suggest that you log in to One Portal as soon as possible to verify that you can in fact log in and that you have the appropriate access to EPC and/or the BEAR Form. After you have logged in for the first time, you can also set up an alternate email address or cell phone number for us to send you the verification code you will need each time you log in.
Verify that you have a One Portal account.
As we mentioned, we created a One Portal account for everyone who received the July 27 email. Check your spam filter or junk email folder if you cannot find our email in your inbox.
Our account creation list included all EPC users created before July 24 and all BEAR Form filers with Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) issued before July 20. If you fit either of these requirements, you should be able to log in even if you have not received our email.
Please note: If you identified a primary email address in EPC – that is, an email address different from your EPC username where you would like to receive email correspondence – you will still use your EPC username to log in to One Portal. However, we sent the July 27 email to both your EPC username and your primary email address to make sure you received it.
To verify that you have a One Portal account:
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Click the blue Continue button at the bottom of the instructions page.
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Click the Forgot password? text below the Password field.
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Enter your email address in the Username field.
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Click the blue Reset via Email button.
The system will send an email to you with a link to finish the log in process. However, if you see a red error message "User cannot be found!" you do not have a One Portal account. For this and other issues with One Portal, you can contact the Clint Service Bureau at (888) 203-8100.
Verify that you can receive our email.
After you click the blue Reset via Email button, you should receive our email to log in to One Portal within a few minutes. The link in this email is good for one hour. If you do not receive it, you can try again. First, though, we recommend that you do the following:
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Look carefully at the email address you have entered. If you drop a letter or transpose two letters, the system will not recognize your entry.
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Check the time set on your computer to be sure it is accurate. If it is off by more than two minutes, that can affect your ability to receive our email.
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Use a different browser to request your password reset. We recommend that you use the latest version of Chrome or Firefox. However, you should avoid using an incognito window in Chrome versions higher than 80.0. (To find your version number in Chrome, go to Settings and then About Chrome.)
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Check your computer's security settings that block incoming emails, or ask your system administrator if our emails are being blocked.
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Clear the cookies and cache on your browser, then close the browser and start a new session.
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Check your browser settings for any privacy plug-ins. These may stop you from getting to the Create Password page.
You can also call the Client Service Bureau (CSB) at (888) 203-8100 for assistance.
Review the requirements for your password.
When you click on the link in our first email to set your password, keep the basic password requirements in mind. 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 =).
Act quickly when you receive your verification code.
After you set your password, we will send you a second email with your verification code. This code is only good for 10 minutes, so be ready to enter your code as soon as you receive it.
Check your entitlements.
When your login is successful, you will be taken to a popup if you have only one entitlement or a dashboard if you have two or more.
- Applicants should have an entitlement for EPC, the BEAR Form, or both.
- Service providers will have an entitlement for EPC and probably already have other entitlements as well, such as E-File.
Provide an alternate email address or cell phone number if you wish.
Your popup or your dashboard includes a link to Manage Account Settings. You can decide to continue to receive your verification code through your login email address, or you can provide an alternate email address or a cell phone number to receive your code by text message. We can then use the alternate you identify the next time you log in.
Create new users as usual.
New EPC users. The account administrator on your organization's EPC account can continue to create new users in EPC. After a new user is created, EPC sends a message to One Portal to create a new One Portal account for this user. That user can then use their EPC username to go through the regular One Portal login process.
- For the short term, EPC will continue to create a task for the new user to accept their terms and conditions for use of EPC. After you have clicked on the task and accepted the terms and conditions, your account administrator can assign you full rights, partial rights, or view-only rights to program forms and requests.
- After the One Portal terms and conditions are deployed, new users will accept those terms and conditions instead of the EPC terms and conditions.
New BEAR Form filers. To request a PIN, a new BEAR Form filer opens a customer service case in EPC and attaches a completed PIN request template to the case by providing the information indicated on the Personal Identification Number (PIN) page to complete the template. We will then create and email a new PIN, generally within two weeks of the request.
- If you already have a PIN, you should already have a BEAR Form entitlement in your One Portal popup or dashboard. Follow that link, click on the BEAR Form link to go to the BEAR Form, and use your new PIN to log in with the appropriate Billed Entity Number (BEN), last name, and email address.
- If this is the first time you have used a PIN to file a BEAR Form, we will create a One Portal account for you. You may have to wait a day or two after you receive your PIN by email before you can log in to One Portal and access your BEAR Form entitlement.
Ask for assistance if you need it.
If you are having trouble logging in to One Portal, please call CSB at (888) 203-8100. If they cannot resolve your problem, they will escalate your request to USAC and we will reach out to you.
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