Funding Status
The FY 2012 Form 471 application filing window opened on January 9, 2012, and will close at 11:59 pm EDT on Tuesday, March 20, 2012. The last possible date to file a valid Form 470 for FY 2011 is February 21, 2012. (Note: The required 28-day posting period for a Form 470 filed on February 21st would end March 20th, the last day of the filing window. Please do not wait this long.)
With one quarter to go, there is $250 million in previously unused funds available to be rolled over into FY 2012. Last year, at this time, the interim total was $400 million. Assuming that the current quarter generates another $200-250 million in unused funding (which is an aggressive assumption), the total available roll-over amount for FY 2012 would be $450-500 million. At best, this may not be enough to support a Priority 2 funding threshold much below 90%.
Wave 33 for FY 2011 will be released on Tuesday, February 7th. Cumulative funding for FY 2011 is $1.66 billion. Priority 2 funding for FY 2011 is currently being provided only at the 90% level.
The Schools and Libraries Committee of the USAC Board approved a resolution last week recommending setting the initial denial threshold for FY 2011 Priority 2 funding at 79%. As a part of the discussion, the SLD indicated that based on its demand projections, less than $150 million would be available to fund Priority 2 requests below 90%, and that the demand at the 88-89% level is currently $240 million. Although Priority 2 funding demand may fall a bit as applications are reviewed, this suggests that the final FY 2011 threshold is unlikely to reach the low-, or even mid-, 80% level.
No new wave for FY 2010 is scheduled for release this week.
E-Rate Updates and Reminders
Digital Learning Day:
February 1st, designated Digital Learning Day, featured a series of events and presentations around the country highlighted by the Webcast of a National Town Hall Meeting from Washington, DC. The Webcast included an interview with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Although Secretary Duncan commented broadly on the importance of technology in education, Chairman Genachowski provided more detailed information on the role of the FCC in supporting online learning. The FCC’s three major initiatives are:
- The E-rate program, providing approximately $3 billion a year in discounts on Telecommunications, Internet Access, and Internal Connections for K-12 schools and libraries.
- A pilot "Learning On-The-Go" initiative, within the E-rate program, supporting 24x7 wireless Internet access for students and library patrons.
- The cooperative "Connect to Compete" program with members of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association ("NCTA") to provide broadband Internet service at home for low-income families with students in the National School Lunch Program for $9.95 per month.
Together, the FCC and the DOE sponsored the Digital Textbook Collaborative, a broad industry taskforce (including E-Rate Central), that developed the Digital Textbook Playbook — "a roadmap for educators to accelerate the transition to digital textbooks" — which was presented on Digital Learning Day. The FCC/DOE also released a new version of the DOE’s School 2.0 Bandwidth Planner.
Form 486 Problem Resolved:
For more than a month, applicants submitting paper versions of the Form 486 by mail have been noticing that their submissions were not showing up as being filed in the SLD’s Data Retrieval Tool, nor were they receiving the acknowledging Form 486 Notification Letters. More problematic was that their service providers were also not being notified that the Form 486s had been submitted and approved, meaning that the providers could not file Service Provider Invoices to discount bills. To further complicate the picture, some applicants who had already submitted their Form 486s had begun receiving Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letters regarding their Form 486 deadlines. Applicants calling the SLD’s Client Service Bureau to check on the status of filed Form 486s were being told that their forms had been received but, as a result of a system problem, could not be data entered and processed.
Last week, the SLD indicated that their system problem had been resolved. We expect the backlog in the processing of paper Form 486s to be addressed expeditiously.
Schools and Libraries News Brief Dated February 3 – Service Provider Bidding Reminders
Last week’s SLD News Brief for February 3, 2012, included tips and reminders for service providers participating in applicants’ competitive bidding processes for FY 2012. The topics covered included:
- Maintaining complete and correct Form 498 contact and banking information.
- Providing product demonstrations.
- Not assisting applicants with their technology plans.
- Not assisting applicants with their Form 470s and/or RFPs.
- Downloading information from the Form 470 Search Posted and Form 470 Download Reports tools.
- Submitting responsive bids.
- Avoiding violations of the E-rate gift rules.
This year, more so than in past years, we have seen aggressive service provider use of the Form 470 tools to contact applicants, often to push unrequested products and services. The News Brief addresses this problem by noting that:
…requests for information should be specific and related to posted FCC Forms 470 and RFPs referenced on those forms, when the available information is not sufficient for you to submit a responsive bid. Applicants are not expected to respond to generic broadcast emails sent out solely on the basis of information available from these tools,especially if you do not provide the type(s) of service requested for that type of entity or in that geographic area. [emphasis added]