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News of the Week

In This Week's Issue

Funding Status for E-Rate and ECF
- E-Rate for FY 2023
- ECF for 2021-2023
- E-Rate for FY 2024
Updates and Reminders
- Upcoming Dates
- ACP Wind-Down Update

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In This Week's Issue

Funding Status for E-Rate and ECF
- E-Rate for FY 2023
- ECF for 2021-2023
- E-Rate for FY 2024
Updates and Reminders
- Upcoming Dates
- ACP Wind-Down Update

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February 12, 2024

Introduction

The E-Rate Central News for the Week is prepared by E-Rate Central. E-Rate Central specializes in providing consulting, compliance, and forms processing services to E-rate applicants. To learn more about our services, please contact us by phone (516-801-7804), fax (516-801-7810), or through our Contact Us web form. Additional E-rate information is located on the E-Rate Central website.

Funding Status for E-Rate and ECF

E-Rate for FY 2023:

USAC issued Wave 42 for FY 2023 on Thursday, February 8th, for $15.4 million. Total funding is now $2.58 billion. At this point, USAC has funded 97.6% of the originally submitted applications representing 92.7% of the dollars requested.

ECF for 2021-2023:

Total commitments for all three ECF windows are $6.47 billion.

E-Rate for FY 2024:

The Form 471 filing window for FY 2024 opened on January 17th and will close on Wednesday, March 27th, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Applications marked as "Wave Ready" are likely to be included in the first funding wave for FY 2024 that is expected in late April.

Updates and Reminders

Upcoming Dates:

February 16	Form 486 deadline for FY 2023 Wave 26. 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 27 02/23/2024 Wave 28 03/01/2024 Wave 29 03/08/2024 Applicants missing their Form 486 deadlines should, within a week, receive Urgent Reminder Letters from USAC providing a 15-day grace period.
February 27	Extended invoice deadline for FY 2022 recurring service FRNs.
February 27	Due date for comments on the cybersecurity forms at the OMB.
February 27	Due date for reply comments on the FCC's cybersecurity pilot NPRM (FCC 23-92).
February 28	Last day to file a Form 470 for FY 2024 so as to allow its posting for at least 28 days before the close of the Form 471 application window. Please note that any applicant waiting until February 28th to file a Form 470 would have to review all bids, select vendors, sign contracts and upload them into EPC, create and file their Form 471, all on March 27th when the EPC is likely to be at its busiest. This is NOT a recommended course of action!
March 27	Close of the Form 471 application window for FY 2024. To be considered as "In Window," Form 471s must be filed and certified by 11:59 p.m. EDT.

ACP Wind-Down Update:

As discussed in our newsletter of February 5th, there is still a small chance that Congress will appropriate additional funds for the Affordable Connectivity Program ("ACP") that would allow it to continue at least through the end of calendar year 2024. In the meantime, ACP funding is forecasted to run out in April. The FCC has already instructed USAC to begin winding down the program. As a result, the following steps have already been taken:

Effective January 25th, participating internet service providers were to have sent the first of three notices to their ACP customers alerting them to the program's likely termination.
As of last Friday, February 8th, new enrollments in ACP were no longer being accepted.

The most recent information on the ACP's status is in USAC's notice of February 7th referencing the FCC's public notice of the ACP enrollment freeze and the following resources:

USAC's ACP Wind-Down Webinar
USAC's ACP Wind-Down Office Hours on January 18
USAC's ACP Wind-Down Office Hours on January 30
USAC's Bulletin Announcing the ACP Wind Down
The FCC's ACP Wind-Down Fact Sheet
The FCC's ACP Wind-Down FAQs