Upcoming Dates:
December 23 |
The Form 486 deadline for FY 2022 Wave 19. More generally, the Form 486 deadline is 120 days from the FCDL date or from the service start date (typically July 1st), whichever is later. Upcoming Form 486 deadlines are:
Wave 20 12/30/2022
Wave 21 01/06/2023
Wave 22 01/13/2023
Wave 23 01/20/2023
Wave 24 01/27/2023 |
January 5 |
USAC’s FY 2023 Eligible Services webinar (register). |
January 9 |
ACP application window deadline (DA 22-1213) for the FCC’s outreach pilot programs for potential participation by schools, libraries, and others (see our newsletter of August 15th). See also the FCC and USAC announcements of the opening of the ACP application window. |
February 13 |
Comments due on the requests to allow the use of E-rate funds for advanced or next generation firewalls and/or other network security features (DA 22‑1315). Reply comments are due March 30th. |
National Security Risks: E-Rate and Beyond:
Late in November, the FCC issued a new Report and Order, Order, and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 22-84) dealing with the identification and treatment of Chinese “covered companies” and their equipment deemed to present a national security threat to the national communications supply chain (see our newsletter of November 28th). As of last September, ten Chinese firms were on the FCC’s list of covered companies. Of these, only two — Huawei and ZTE — had E-rate SPINs. To date, neither of these SPINs have ever been associated directly with any E‑rate application but we have identified a little over $2 million in Huawei-branded equipment that has been sourced through other E-rate suppliers in FY 2016-2018.
From an E-rate perspective, E-rate applicants need to take care to avoid requesting funding, either directly or indirectly, for any services, equipment, and/or components provided by a banned covered company. When soliciting bids, we recommend adding language requiring bidders to certify their equipment and services are compliant with the FCC Order (FCC 19-121) prohibiting the sale, provision, maintenance, modification, or other support of equipment or services provided or manufactured by Huawei, ZTE, or any other “covered company” deemed a national security threat.
Beyond E-rate, however, schools and libraries need to recognize the broader dangers inherent in the procurement of equipment and/or components from companies deemed national security risks. An October 2022 report from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (“CSET”) indicated that its analysis of government procurement records found that at least 1,681 state and local entities purchased equipment and services prohibited at the federal level under Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act in the period between 2015 and 2021. Collectively, these entities registered nearly 5,700 transactions involving a wide range of covered equipment including, but not limited to, smartphones, surveillance cameras, temperature scanners, handheld radios, and networking equipment. The report found that the banned technologies appeared to be especially popular with public education systems. Roughly three-quarters of the transactions had been made by public school districts, colleges, and universities. For affected schools, E-rate may be the least of their problems.
USF Quarterly Contribution Factor Back Over 30%:
The FCC announced that the Proposed First Quarter 2023 Universal Service Contribution Factor will be 32.6% (see DA 22-1286) — back above 30% for the fifth time in the last nine quarters.

As we have discussed in the past, and as shown in the graph below, the underlying problem is not so much that USF expenses (i.e., the revenue requirements) are rising but that interstate telecommunications revenues (i.e., the contribution base) are rapidly falling.

The decline in the contribution base is a problem that the FCC has neglected for too long. At some point, the Universal Service Fund (“USF”) must be restructured to expand the contribution base to all broadband providers or users. In the meantime, any increase in demand from E-rate or other USF programs is problematic.
For E-rate applicants, this is a particularly bad time to be seeing any increase in the contribution factor because it gives the FCC another reason to postpone addressing the crying need to make cybersecurity products and services eligible (see our newsletter of November 28th).*