Funding Status
The FY 2012 Form 471 application filing window will open at noon on Monday, January 9, 2012, and will close at 11:59 pm EDT on Tuesday, March 20, 2012.
Wave 27 for FY 2011 will be released on Wednesday, December 28th. Cumulative funding for FY 2011 is currently $1.37 billion. Priority 2 funding is currently being provided only at the 90% level.
Wave 79 for FY 2010 will be released on Thursday, December 29th. Cumulative funding for FY 2010 is currently $2.90 billion. Priority 2 funding is being provided at all discount levels.
E-Rate Updates and Reminders
ADA Exemption Extended Two Years:
The FY 2012 Omnibus Appropriations Act (HR 2055) was passed by both houses of Congress last week and is expected to be signed by the President this week. It again contains a provision temporarily exempting E-rate funding from the restrictions of the Antideficiency Act ("ADA") — an exemption that has been renewed annually since 2004. Although Congress has yet to approve a permanent Universal Service ADA exemption, this year's action was noteworthy because it extended the exemption for two years, through December 31, 2013.
ADA has been an issue ever since it was applied to Universal Service and caused a temporary suspension of FY 2004 E-rate funding. Without the exemption, USAC would be prohibited from awarding funding unless it had already collected offsetting contributions from the carriers. Since E-rate funding is typically awarded well in advance of when it is actually disbursed, and since overall utilization has never reached 100%, the ADA exemption would technically permit USAC to over-commit funds. As a practical matter, however, USAC has built up an adequate reserve to comply with ADA, and has made little use of the rolling ADA exemptions. Although a two year exemption may provide an additional safety factor, it is unlikely to affect USAC's E-rate near-term funding policies.
FCC Approves 46 Contract-Related Appeals:
Christmas came early last week for 46 applicants whose appeals were approved by the FCC (see DA 11-2040). All the appeals dealt with funding denials based on the requirement that a contract or legally binding agreement be in place before a Form 471 application is submitted. Although the applicant explanations were varied, the FCC ruled that "…the mistakes made by these petitioners do not warrant the complete rejection of these petitioners' applications for E-rate funding. Although the record demonstrates that petitioners' contracts had minor errors, they all had some form of an agreement in place during the relevant funding year prior to the filing of their applications."
While the FCC indicated that these decisions were in line with past precedent from 2008, we note that some of the appeals had been pending from as early as 2006 (and, on the plus side, as late as August 2011). Fourteen of these appeals were filed after the normal 60-day appeal deadline, thus requiring an FCC waiver on that issue as well. Interestingly, the basis for the deadline waivers was either:
- That the appeals had been filed "within a reasonable period of time after receiving actual notice of USAC's adverse decision;" or
- That "the late-filed appeal would never have been necessary absent an error on the part of USAC."
The first reason, subjective as it may be, we had seen before. The second, we had not. It suggests that the FCC might be willing to accept any appeal alleging USAC error, whenever filed — or, perhaps, with at least a more flexible interpretation of a "reasonable" period of time.
Schools and Libraries News Brief dated December 23 – Winter Contact Procedure
Last week's SLD News Brief for December 23, 2011, reminds applicants that USAC's winter contact procedures — designed to avoid penalizing applicants who may be unreachable during the holidays — were put into effect on Friday, December 23rd, and will remain in effect through January 6th. Applicants should be aware that if they were contacted before December 23rd, their 15-day response clock will remain intact unless USAC is proactively notified that more time is needed.