Tracking and Reviewing FCDLs for FY 2016:
Individual FCDLs:
When an application is funded for FY 2016, as occurred in Wave 1 last week, the primary contact is notified by email that a Funding Commitment Decision Letter (“FCDL”) has been issued.
When this occurs, the EPC Landing Page for that applicant will display “Notifications” pointing to the FCDL(s) for the approved application(s). To see the actual FCDL, which is no longer mailed as a physical “letter,” the FCDL must first be “generated.” This may be done by the first authorized user of that account who views the Notifications. The following example shows the status of two applications, one indicating that the FCDL has been generated and one indicating that the FCDL has yet to be generated.
The “View Notification” link brings up an FCDL News feed, beginning with the following initial text:
More importantly, as shown below, the News feed also provides a summary of the total funding approved for the application and links to the following:
- A PDF containing basically the same basic information (e.g., appeal rights, etc.) as was contained in the historic FCDL.
- A CSV file, which can be opened in Excel, with a separate row for each FRN showing funding requested, funding committed, and an explanation of any differences (if applicable).
- Applicant and contact information on the application including links to the original version of the Form 471 and (not yet available) the current post-commitment version of the Form 471.
State Wave Funding:
Funding can also be tracked on a state-by-state basis outside of EPC. Two search tools are:
- The “View/Download FCC Form 471 for FY2016” tool yields a detailed seven-tab Excel file showing either the “Original” Form 471s, as filed, or the “Current” Form 471s as funded. This tool is available today.
- USAC plans to provide an FY 2016 version of the current “Search Commitments” tool to summarize funding by state and by wave, and to generate detailed state-wave FRN Excel files. This tool is in development.
Filing Form 486s:
Now that FCDLs have begun to be issued for FY 2016, Form 486s for approved FRNs may be filed within EPC. Normally, a Form 486 should not be filed until services for that funding year have begun. For the benefit of those funded in early waves, however, there is a special certification permitting the filing of early Form 486s as long as services will begin before the end of July.
To file a Form 486, use the following “Create FCC Form 486” link available on the Landing Page:
Once a Form 486 is filed, it will show up twice as Notifications on the applicant’s Landing Page, first as being certified, and second as being reviewed and approved by USAC.
Once approved, the “View Notification” link brings up the following News feed with embedded links to:
- The Form 486; and
- Basic applicant data.