Wave 10 Funding for FY 2002
Wave 10 of Funding Year 2002 will be released on Tuesday, August 27. Total funding in this Wave is approximately $18 million for 415 applications. The cumulative total for FY 2002 is now $742 million for 24,175 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 exact level of Priority Two funding is not expected until at least late September.
The scariest horror of Halloween this year would be to realize on October 31, a few days too late, that you'd missed one or more key E-rate deadlines and that your E-rate funding had been reduced or had disappeared completely. Please plan ahead. Several late October dates are particularly important.
October 28, 2002- BEAR Invoice Deadline for FY 2001
In general, the last day to submit a BEAR reimbursement form is 120 days after the last date of service. For most applicants, the last service date for recurring monthly services during the 2001-2002 funding year is June 30, 2002. The BEAR submission deadline for these services, therefore, is October 28, 2002. Please remember that a BEAR must be based on actual bills paid and must be acknowledged by the service provider before it can be submitted to the SLD.
As discussed in our E-rate News for the Week of 8/12/02 (see the Archive section of the E-Rate Central Web site), the new SLD BEAR processing and notification procedures may increase the likelihood of FRN rejections. To be safe, and to allow time for possible resubmission, BEARs should be submitted well before October 28.
Once the invoice deadline has passed, the SLD may cancel all remaining FRN funding. An applicant's only recourse, in such a case, is to file an Invoice Deadline Extension Request (see Invoicing Deadlines).
October 28, 2002- Special Library Deadline for FY 2001
Several weeks ago, the SLD released guidelines for libraries regarding CIPA certifications. The new guidance included special FY 2001 provisions for those libraries that had not filed Form 486s, had their funding reduced as the result of late filed Form 486s, or had filed Form 500s to voluntarily reduce funding. In these cases, the deadline for checking status and/or taking corrective action was also set as October 28 (see CIPA Guidance).
October 29, 2002- First Form 486 Filing Deadline FY 2002 (Waves 1-5)
The basic Form 486 submission rule for FY 2002 is that a 486 must be filed within 120 days of the funding commitment date or the start of service date, whichever is later (see Instructions for Form 486). For all applicants funded in Waves 1-5 (i.e., before July 2002), with services beginning July 1, 2002, the deadline is October 29.
October 30, 2002- First Form 486 Filing Deadline FY 2002 (Wave 6)
Wave 6 was funded on July 2, so applicants with services starting at the beginning of the funding year, have one extra day to submit their Form 486s.
(Applicants funded after Wave 6, or with start of service dates after July 1, can determine their individual Form 486 deadlines using the Deadline Calculation Worksheet available in the Forms Rack of the E-Rate Central Web site.)
Disclaimer: This newsletter may contain unofficial information on prospective E-rate developments and/or may reflect E-Rate Central's own interpretations of E-rate practices and regulations. Such information is provided for planning and guidance purposes only. It is not meant, in any way, to supplant official announcements and instructions provided by either the SLD or the FCC.