Wave 9 Funding for FY 2002
Wave 9 of Funding Year 2002 will be released on Tuesday, August 13. Total funding in this wave is approximately $38 million for 465 applications. The cumulative total for FY 2002 is now $724 million for 23,760 applications.
Funding is still being provided only for Priority One (Telecommunications and Internet Access) services. Applicants with discount rates below 80% are being told that their requests for Priority Two (Internal Connection) services will be denied due to insufficient funds. A decision on the level of Priority Two funding is not expected until at least late September.
Any applicant receiving a Funding Commitment Decision Letter ("FCDL") for FY 2002 should remember that any appeal of these decisions must be made within sixty days of the date of the FCDL. Instructions for appealing any SLD decision can be found on the SLD web site.
The review, and possible appeal, of Internal Connection decisions is particularly critical. As indicated above, applicants with discount rates below 80% will not be funded in FY 2002 for Priority Two services. The decisions on these requests will indicate that they are "Not Funded" because of the funding cap. Unless the SLD decision results in a reduction in the applicant's discount rate to an unfundable level, appeals of these decisions are not worthwhile.
For applicants with higher discount rates - and particularly for those at 90% - a careful review of preliminary SLD Priority Two decisions is required. Although the SLD is not yet funding Internal Connection services for high discount applicants, it is important to note that the SLD is making critical decisions related to these services. An applicant who has applied for both Priority One and Two services may receive a FCDL containing final funding decisions for Priority One (Telecom and Internet) services, but that also contains status information and certain decisions on Priority Two services. For a high discount rate applicant, the status information may indicate that an Internal Connection FRN is "As Yet Unfunded" or is "Not Funded."
The "As Yet Unfunded" designation is a good sign. It essentially means that the SLD has reviewed the request and found it at least eligible for funding, even if it is not yet clear what funding will be available.
The "Not Funded" designation in a high discount rate situation, however, indicates that the SLD has determined that a FRN is ineligible for funding. The FCDL will also include a brief "Funding Commitment Decision Explanation" indicating the reason for the denial. This is a funding decision; if it is incorrect, it must be appealed within the sixty day window. Do not wait until later this fall, when the SLD announces funding levels for Internal Connection services, to appeal.
Contacts between applicants and the SLD are most often based on information provided in Block 1, Item 6 of their Form 471s. A longstanding problem has been that this information tends to become obsolete over time due to personnel changes and/or office moves. Until this week, there has been no standard way for applicants to update this contact information.
Effective this week, the SLD has established a procedure for applicants to change any Block 1 contact information on a Form 471. Requested changes must be made in writing (on applicant letterhead) and mailed or faxed to the SLD. Changes can be requested on contact information associated with a specific Form 471, or more broadly in the SLD's applicants' database.
Applicants, who filed Form 471s online, have long had the capability to review their Form 471 data (excluding Item 21 attachments) on the SLD Web site using an assigned Security Code Number. Data for all Form 471s is now available online to anyone.
To view a specific Form 471, use the Form 471 "Display" button in the "Apply Online" section of the SLD Web site, then input the six-digit Form 471 application number. There is space to enter a Security Code Number, but this is optional (and, despite an indication to the contrary, does not provide access to any additional contact information). Two different views are provided, one for the original Form 471 and another (the "Current" view) reflecting any adjustments made by the SLD. Form 471s, that are still in review, are available only in the "Original" view.
One useful function we have found for the "Current" view is to check whether SPIN Changes or Corrections have been approved and whether the SLD FRN records have been updated.
In late June, the FCC released an Order suspending the enforcement of the CIPA requirements for Internet filtering by libraries and indicating that additional guidance from the SLD would be forthcoming.
- New information was posted on the SLD Web site this week (see CIPA Guidance).
The new guidance is related primarily to library Form 486 filings (with associated certifications on CIPA compliance) for FY 2001. Because different rules were established by the FCC for different filing situations, the guidelines are somewhat complex - particularly for libraries that have not successfully filed timely Form 486s (or library consortia that have not collected required Form 479s). Several general points should be noted.
(a) The new guidance and procedures do not apply to schools, nor do they apply to libraries that have requested discounts only for Telecommunications services.
(b) Although the SLD has been instructed to develop new versions of the Form 486 and Form 479 to make it clear that libraries are not subject to the CIPA filtering requirements specified in Section 254(h), the guidance indicates that libraries can use the existing versions with the explicit understanding that the CIPA compliance language, as applied to libraries, refers only to compliance with Section 254(l), the Internet safety policy requirement.
(c) Libraries that failed to file a Form 486 for FY 2001, pending resolution of the court case, will be given until October 28, 2002, to do so. Similarly, libraries that voluntarily reduced funding (via a Form 500) as a result of CIPA compliance concerns will be given until October 28, 2002, to request funding reinstatement. Libraries that filed timely Form 486s, but did not make the required CIPA certification, will be asked to certify compliance without penalty. These three situations represent the good news of the new procedures.
(d) The bad news is that libraries that belatedly filed Form 486s for FY 2001 will be given only limited relief for missing the original October 28, 2001, filing deadline, and that no leniency will be given to libraries with Form 486 filing problems for telecommunications-only funding.