The following is a summary of E-rate news, formal or informal, from the SLC for the week of September 14, 1998. Most of the information for this week comes from the first SLC training session held in New York on September 16; none of this information appears in the "What's New!" section of the SLC's web site.
Currently, the target date for beginning to send funding letters appears to be mid-October.
The letters will go out in waves, not all at once. The first wave will be to those applicants requesting only telecommunications and Internet access discounts and to the most needy schools (at the 90% discount level) with internal connection requests. Subsequent waves will be determined by the FCC's priority funding rules. As a result, lower discount applicants requesting internal connection will receive letters in later waves.
The entire wave process will hopefully be no more than 5-6 weeks in duration. This would mean that many low discount schools would not get funding commitments until later in November.
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Monthly telecommunications and Internet access contracts expiring on or after 12/31/98 will, if extended, be funded until the end of the current period (6/30/99). Funding commitment letters will include a recalculated amount. Tariff services should fall into this category.
Telecommunications and Internet access contracts listed in Form 471s, expiring before 12/31/98, fall into what the SLC has begun calling the "new black hole." Under FCC rules, funding for these contracts will be available only up to the total amount calculated in the original Form 471s.
Applicants will have until 6/30/99 to utilize funds approved for internal connection contracts, but funds will not exceed the originally requested amounts.
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A draft version of Form 486 is at the FCC now for approval and should be available for viewing on the SLC web site shortly. A draft of the new BEAR (Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement,FCC number to be provided) form will be sent to the FCC later this week. Copies of both forms will accompany the funding commitment letters.
The SLC is asking applicants to submit a Form 486 for existing services within five days of receipt of a funding letter. BEAR and 486 forms will be processed in a "tough love" fashion; they will be either accepted or returned for corrections.
The Form 486 includes a certification that a technology plan has been approved. The name of the approving agency must be specified (unless requests are only for basic telephone service).
Applicants applying for retroactive discounts are responsible for calculating the eligible amounts previously paid and submitting the BEAR form. Applicants must advise vendors that they are filing for reimbursement and must get vendor signatures on their BEAR forms.
Vendor reimbursement for retroactive discounts may be by check or may be credited against future payments. The choice will be determined by the applicant and the vendor. For checks, the goal is to get a reimbursement back to an applicant within 30 days of a BEAR form submission.
A second round of BEAR filings may be required if vendors cannot immediately implement approved discounts for ongoing bills.
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An updated version of the SLC's service eligibility matrix is expected to be posted on the SLC web site later next week.
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An SLC fax on demand service is available by calling 800-959-0733. A document menu can be faxed using option "2." Most of the documents offered by fax are also available on the SLC's web site, but the fax service provides a use archival function.
Fax disclaimers: The menu lists seven new documents supposedly "forthcoming in August 1998," but actually not currently available (as of 9/17). It also includes a "Correction request for Form 471" that we had not seen elsewhere, but which we are told is no longer valid. A helpline number provided to those having problems with the service is for the fax-on-demand provider; it cannot be used for the SLC-specific questions