FCDLs for FY 2016:
Traditionally, when an application was approved in a funding wave, summary data became available on the wave release date in USAC’s Search Commitments tool, and an applicant would be mailed a hard-copy Funding Commitment Decisions Letter (“FCDL”). This remains the process for FY 2015 and prior funding years.
Beginning with FY 2016, FCDL information — not really “letters” — will be conveyed to applicants (and related service providers) electronically through EPC. The new FCDL process, discussed in USAC’s S&L News Brief of June 3, 2016, will work as follows:
- On the funding wave release date, the contact listed on an approved (or denied) application will receive an email notification directing the applicant to the Landing Page of its EPC account. Other EPC account holders will have similar access, but will not have received an email.
- The Landing Page will include a new Notifications section listing all FCDLs issued so far to that applicant. Under “Notifications,” you can filter on “FCDL”s. If this is the first time you or your authorized users are viewing the FCDL, it will say “Generate Notification.” Once you or any of your users click the “Generate Notification” hyperlink, the FCDL will be created in the system and the message will update to “View Notification.” Based on USAC’s trial system, the Notifications dashboard appears as follows:
- The “View Notification” link will take the user to the applicant’s News feed. The actual News article includes a summary of the FCDL and links to three attachments with the following information:
- An electronic version of the descriptive information contained in a traditional FCDL, including total FCDL funding, obligations to pay the non-discounted share, rights to appeal, etc.
- A *.CSV file, which can be opened in Excel, containing tabular data on every FRN in that application.
- The underlying Form 471 itself. Note that this will be the “current” version of the Form 471, including any changes made during PIA, rather than the “original” version as initially filed.
- You may toggle the status of the notification to display “All”, “Generated”, or “Not Generated”.
Reminder: Don’t be alarmed if it is your first time viewing the FCDL but it doesn’t ask you to “Generate Notification”. While it may be your first time viewing the FCDL, a colleague or other authorized user may have viewed it first which allows you to skip the “Generate Notification” stage.
Creating and Tracking Appeals:
EPC now includes a function to file and track USAC appeals. The new appeals system applies only to FY 2016 funding decisions, thus becomes effective only after funding begins. Although USAC may accept FY 2016 appeals filed outside of EPC, the tracking feature of EPC appeals will make this the preferred option.
To file a FY 2016 USAC appeal, use the “Related Actions” activity, and choose:
This link leads to an appeal creation form beginning with the following page:
Once an appeal is filed through EPC, status information can be tracked with one click from the Landing Page.