IDERs and Inter-System Synchronization:
Given the importance of today’s invoice deadline for FY 2017 recurring services, it’s appropriate to remind users of the interrelationships between the various USAC IT systems. User entries in one system do not necessarily carry-over, at least not immediately, into other systems.
Applicants who have recently submitted Invoice Deadline Extension Requests (“IDERs”) using the new EPC tool, for example, have been reporting two to three day delays before the extended deadlines are reported in the FRN Status Tool (“FST”). Because the FST provides the most comprehensive source of FRN data for FY 2016 and forward, delays in database synchronization at or around critical deadlines can be at best disconcerting.
With respect to approved IDERs of the October 29th deadline, applicants should seek comfort in the email confirmations generated by USAC when extensions are requested and approved. The following is an example of the critical portion of an IDER approval email:
Another tool which may be used to confirm IDERs is the FRN Extension Table. Supposedly — and traditionally — this table has listed only those FRNs for which service delivery and/or invoice deadlines have been extended. In the list of USAC Tools, for example, the FRN Extension table is listed as:
Currently the tool appears to be listing the service delivery and invoice deadlines for all FRNs in FY 2017 and FY 2018, not just the FRNs with extended deadlines. When using the FRN Extension Table, therefore, it is important to check the actual “Last Allowable Date for an Invoice to be Submitted” (Col. 3) to confirm that an IDER has been approved.