News of the Week

Funding Status

Current indications are that the FY 2012 Form 471 application window will open on, or shortly after, January 5, 2012, and close either March 15 or March 22, 2012.

Wave 21 for FY 2011 will be released on Tuesday, November 8th.  Cumulative funding for FY 2011 will be $1.23 billion.  Priority 2 funding is currently being provided at the 90% level.

Wave 74 for FY 2010 will be released on Wednesday, November 9th.  Cumulative funding for FY 2010 is $2.83 billion.  Priority 2 funding is being provided at all discount levels.

SLD Training: The Road to Success – Technology Plans

This is the sixth article in a series covering the major topics presented in the SLD's fall applicant training workshops.  The SLD's PowerPoint slides for this training are available online.

The SLD's "Road to Success" presentation covers a variety of topics, all designed to keep applicants, service providers, and consultants out of trouble.  Not surprisingly, the primary focus is on planning and procurement.  The central concept is that every participant in the E-rate process must know and adhere to their roles, namely:

• Applicants
  • Write tech plan (required only for Priority 2 services), file FCC Form 470 and write RFP, evaluate bids, select provider, document the competitive bidding process, file FCC Form 471 & Item 21 attachments, get tech plan approved, ensure CIPA compliance, file FCC Form 486, select invoice method, file BEARs (if that is the method chosen), retain documentation
• Service Providers
  • Respond to 470/RFPs, assist with preparing Item 21 attachments, provide technical answers to questions regarding specific goods and services requested but NOT on competitive bidding or tech planning, file SPIs and/or approve BEARs, file SPAC, retain documentation
• Consultants
  • Follow the role of their client(s) – either applicant or service provider, obtain a Consultant Registration Number ("CRN"), retain documentation

Technology Plans:

The key change for this and ensuing funding years is that an approved technology plan is required only for Priority 2 services.  In the past, the only exception was for basic telephone service.  A less significant change is that technology plans no longer need a budget section (although basic technology budget figures are required in Item 25 of the Form 471 certifications).

What the SLD does not cover in its training is that the new Priority 2-only requirement effectively means that most high-discount applicants will continue to need to periodically update and seek approval for their plans, while many low discount applicants may not.  Not knowing what the Priority 2 funding threshold will be for any upcoming funding year, however, places mid-level discount applicants in a quandary.  For applicants in this discount range thinking about applying for Priority 2 services in FY 2012, we recommend the following:

1. Applicants with existing approved plans, effective through 2012-2013, need only make sure that any FY 2012 Priority 2 requests are for products and services covered by those plans.
2. Applicants whose approved plans expire June 30, 2012, or earlier can maintain flexibility for Priority 2 requests by:
   1. Simply updating versions of their expiring plans now for 2012-2013.  Tech plans only need be created — not formally approved — prior to filing Form 470s for Priority 2 services;
   2. Filing for whatever Priority 2 services are needed on their Form 471s for FY 2012; and
   3. Waiting until later in the spring (or even until before Form 486s are filed and/or Priority 2 services are to start), when a better estimate can be made on the availability of Priority 2 funding, to have their updated plans formally approved.

Other points covered in the technology plan section of the SLD's training include:

1. Technology plans must be approved by a USAC-certified Tech Plan Approver ("TPA").  A Certified TPA Locator, organized by state, is available online.  Applicants who cannot find an appropriate approver in their state should call USAC's Client Service Bureau (888-203-8100) for a referral.
2. For document retention purposes, an applicant should retain:
   1. A copy of the originally "created" tech plan draft;
   2. Documentation that the draft was created before the Form 470 was filed (e.g., an e-mail circulating the completed draft);
   3. A copy of the final approved tech plan; and
   4. A copy of the TPA's plan approval letter.
3. Remember that approved technology plans were required for Priority 1 services (other than "basic telephone" services) prior to FY 2011, so documentation on plans covering the last few years remains important.

E-Rate Updates and Reminders

President Nominates Two New FCC Commissioners:

President Obama formally nominated two FCC Commissioners last week:

• Jessica Rosenworcel, the Democratic nominee, is currently a top advisor to Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee (and the father of E-rate).  Ms. Rosenworcel would replace her former boss, Commissioner Michael Copps, when his term expires at the end of the year.
• Ajit Varadaraj Pai, the Republican nominee, is currently a partner at the law firm Jenner & Block, but has "extensive experience in virtually every bureau at the FCC."  Mr. Pai would replace Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, who left the Commission last May.

The Senate Commerce Committee is expected to act upon the nominations, neither of which appears controversial, by year end.

SLD Fall Training Status:

The first seven of the SLD's eight fall training workshops have been conducted.  The agenda and slides for the SLD's 2011 training are available online.  The last workshop in this series will be held Tuesday, November 8th, in Orlando, FL.

USAC training videos are also available online.  Two short ones on Form 470 Filing and Dark Fiber are on the USAC Web site.  Longer presentations on E-Rate Topics (and other Universal Service Fund programs) are available on YouTube.

Applicants seeking other E-rate training opportunities should check for state-sponsored E-rate workshops.  Contact information for State E-rate Coordinators may be found on the State Information pages of the E-Rate Central Web site.  Other sources of basic E-rate training include the two Webinars conducted by E-Rate Central earlier this year which are available online at http://www.webjunction.org/techplan-erate.

Schools and Libraries News Brief dated November 4 – Missed October Deadlines

Last week's SLD News Brief for November 4, 2011, discusses the remedies available to applicants who missed one or both of two key deadlines at the end of October.

October 28, 2011, was the deadline for submitting invoices for FY 2010 recurring services.  For applicants submitting BEARs, the deadline meant that a BEAR filed by mail on paper must have been postmarked by that date.  For a BEAR filed online, the service provider must have approved it by that date.  BEARs submitted after the deadline will be rejected.  If a BEAR is rejected, the applicant will still receive a BEAR Notification Letter, but the authorized disbursement amount will be shown as $0.00.

If an applicant's BEAR was submitted late and was rejected, or if the BEAR was not filed at all, the proper recourse at this stage is to file an Invoice Deadline Extension Request.  Such a request requires only a simple letter briefly stating the reason for missing the deadline and requesting an extension.  Historically, USAC has been very flexible in approving extension requests filed within 120 days of the original deadline.  The extensions granted are normally for another 120 days.

October 31, 2011 (since the regular date of October 29th was a Saturday) was the first deadline for submitting and certifying Form 486s for applications funded for FY 2011.  Technically, the Form 486 deadline is a moving target calculated as 120 days from the later of the Funding Commitment Decision Letter or the start of service for that funding year (normally July 1st).  For FY 2011 Waves 1-2 (which were issued in June), therefore, the first Form 486 deadline was established by a July 1, 2011 start of service.  Applicants funded in subsequent waves, will have correspondingly later Form 486 deadlines.

Applicants missing their Form 486 deadline will be given a second chance.  USAC's procedure is to send Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letters to all applicants who appear to have missed their individual deadlines.  Those applicants will be given an additional 20 days (from the date of the letter) to submit their Form 486s without penalty.  The penalty for missing the extended deadline is that the start date for service (that was most likely July 1st) will be reset to a later date (calculated as 120 days prior to the actual Form 486 submission date).  If a service start date is delayed, USAC will not pay invoices for service received prior to the reset date.  For recurring services, USAC will also reduce the funding commitment in proportion to the lateness of the Form 486 filing.  The first batch of Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letters is expected to be issued in the next several weeks.