FY 2016 Funding Data:
Pre-FY 2016, USAC provided funding data through two major tools, Search Commitments for wave-by-wave committed funding, and the more detailed Data Retrieval Tool (“DRT”) for both pending and committed funding. The funding data for FY 2016, however, is embedded in the new EPC system. As such, it is not linked into USAC’s pre-FY 2016 funding tools. In its place USAC has created two non-EPC funding tools, one new as of last Friday (see USAC’s News Brief referenced below). Both can be found in USAC’s list of Search Tools, if you look carefully.
For total funding, either requested or committed, use the View/Download FCC Forms 471 for FY2016 tool found at:
To get committed data for a given state, select the “Current” form version. “Save” will generate a seven-tab Excel workbook with basic entity funding data in the first tab and more detailed data on other tabs. To get all the data in a single worksheet requires considerable data manipulation. USAC has indicated that a more user-friendly, DRT-like, search tool for FY 2016 will be made available in the future.
For wave-by-wave data, try USAC’s new FY2016 Wave Report. This tool opens an Excel workbook with a 27-column spreadsheet for each wave in each tab (as of last Sunday, only Wave 1 was shown). Wave data shows all FRNs approved nationwide.
The best way to get funding data for a specific applicant (or service provider) is to use E-Rate Central’s “Funding Quick Search” found in the top left-hand corner of every State Information page.
This tool, long available for free on the E-Rate Central website, has been updated to provide consistently-formatted funding data for funding years 1998-2016. The tool allows the user to drill down to individual funding years, including FY 2016, and to specific funding requests.
Responding to PIA:
Post # 55 of USAC’s “File Along with Me” (referenced below) reminds applicants that PIA application review questions are no longer emailed directly to the contacts. Instead, emails are sent to the contacts alerting them to pending questions that have to be accessed through EPC. The first trick is finding those questions.
Under the somewhat understated title “Three ways to view your PIA questions,” USAC describes the following options:
- Locate in the EPC “News” feed.
- Locate in the EPC “Tasks” tab.
- Locate in your school’s or library’s EPC profile.
- Locate in the EPC “Records” tab.
BEARs in Transition:
Effective July 1st, all applicant BEARs must be submitted online, and approved reimbursements will be paid directly and electronically to applicants (no longer going through the service providers). For additional information on the new BEAR process and the associated applicant Form 498 requirement, see our newsletter of July 4th and USAC’s most recent News Brief referenced below.
BEARs filed just prior to July 1st, which did not get approved and paid by that time, are subject to one of the following three transitional scenarios.
- BEARs submitted, acknowledged by the service provider, and approved by USAC by June 30th: Handled by USAC as before. USAC will pay the service providers, and the service providers will pay the applicants.
- BEARs submitted and acknowledged, but not approved, by June 30th: When approved, USAC will pay the applicants directly. If an applicant does not have a completed Form 498, USAC will send them a message stating that funds have been approved for disbursement, but that the applicant must complete a Form 498.
- BEARs submitted, but not acknowledged, by June 30th: Applicants must resubmit the BEARs using the new system. USAC will so notify the applicants.
For those applicants not in transition — i.e., those with approved Form 498s now ready to file BEARs online — we have good news. The new online BEAR system is a revised version of USAC’s proven legacy system. Our initial experience with the system has been excellent. We filed four BEARs during the first three days of operation; all four BEARs were approved the following day (on the 4th of July!); and electronic payment was received by the applicant on July 5th. Although there is no alternative, we highly recommend USAC for the processing of all your BEARs.