USAC News Brief 3/12/2010

Taken from USAC’s Website:

March 12, 2010

TIP OF THE WEEK: If you have not submitted one or more of the items below, do so by the deadline in parentheses:

• Form 471 certification if you submitted your form online before the close of the window (March 30)
• RAL corrections if you have them (20 days after the date of your RAL)
• Item 21 attachment (as soon as possible, but no later than 15 days after PIA requests it).

Commitments for Funding Year 2009

Funding Year 2009. USAC will release FY2009 Wave 44 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) March 16. This wave will include commitments for approved Internal Connections and Basic Maintenance requests at 80% and above and denials at 54% and below. As of March 12, FY2009 commitments total over $2.56 billion.

On the day the FCDLs are mailed, you can check to see if you have a commitment by using USAC’s Automated Search of Commitments tool.

FY2010 Demand Estimate

Each year, about a month after the close of the filing window, USAC prepares a demand estimate for the upcoming funding year and submits it to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The demand estimate summarizes the dollar amounts for all funding requests submitted on timely filed Forms 471. These totals are also broken down by category of service and by discount band (90%, 80-89%, 70-79%, etc.)

For FY2010, the total estimated demand is $3.92 billion, which includes approximately $2.038 billion in Priority 1 requests (Telecommunications Services and Internet Access) and approximately $1.88 billion in Priority 2 requests (Internal Connections and Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections). The demand estimate is based on the funding requests in the 42,713 applications received or postmarked by February 19, 2010, the close of the Form 471 application filing window.

“471 No Cert” Letters Issued

On March 10, USAC issued approximately 660 letters to applicants that submitted an FY2010 Form 471 online before the close of the window but neglected to certify the form. This letter, titled “Notification of Form 471 With No Certification,” gives applicants until March 30, 2010 to certify their timely filed forms and be considered in-window.

If you receive this letter, you should take the following steps:

First, check the status of your Form 471 online. To check the status of all Forms 471 you submitted for FY2010, go to the Search Tools menu on the Schools and Libraries main page, select the Form 471 Application Status tool, enter your Billed Entity Number, and choose the 2010 Funding Year. You will then be able to view a table that shows the status of your forms. Below is a list of the form statuses for FY2010 Forms 471 you are likely to see at this point in time:

• Certified – In Window: We have successfully processed either your timely filed paper Form 471 or your timely certified online Form 471. If you already mailed a paper certification to USAC it is likely that your certification and our letter crossed in the mail.

• Certified – Out of Window: You either certified your form online or on paper after the window closed or you postmarked a paper form after the window closed. A paper form postmarked after the window closed is considered out-of-window. However, if you submitted your form online before the window closed, your form can still be considered in-window (see below).

• Complete: Your form has been submitted online but not yet certified. If you submitted your form online before the close of the window, you now have an opportunity to certify your form online or on paper and have it considered in-window.

• Incomplete: You started a form online but did not submit it, or we have started but not completed data entry of your paper form. If your paper form was postmarked before the window closed, it can be considered in-window. However, if you started a form online but did not submit it online before the window closed, that form cannot be considered in-window.

• Canceled: You requested that we cancel your form.
  Second, take the appropriate action based on your situation.

• If the status of your form is “Complete” but you have already mailed in a paper certification, call the Client Service Bureau (CSB) at 1-888-203-8100 to ask if we have received your certification. CSB is still processing paper certifications and may be attempting to reach you to add or correct entries so that your certification can be successfully data entered.

• If the status of your form is “Complete” and you have NOT already certified your form online or mailed in a paper certification, certify your form as soon as possible but no later than March 30, 2010. After you certify online or CSB has successfully processed your paper certification, the status of your form will change to “Certified – Out of Window” (see below). NOTE: If you choose to certify on paper, we recommend that you go to the Apply Online page, choose “Certify Complete” from the Form 471 column, and follow the steps for “Paper Certification.” You will need your Form 471 application number and security code.

• If the status of your form is “Certified – Out of Window,” your form is in one of three possible situations. You do not need to take action but you can call CSB to ascertain which situation applies to your form.

• Situation 1. You submitted your form online before the window closed and certified it after the window closed. Your form can still be considered in-window. After USAC successfully data enters all paper certifications postmarked on or before March 30, USAC will identify all forms that were timely submitted and certified online or on paper on or before March 30 and move them in-window.

• Situation 2. You submitted your form online after the window closed and then certified it online or on paper. Your form is considered out-of-window. USAC will issue an out-of-window letter after all the changes to in-window status have been processed.

• Situation 3. You postmarked a paper form after the window closed. Your form is considered out-of-window. CSB will data enter enough of the data in Block 1 and Block 5 to ensure that USAC can issue you an out-of-window letter.
  Third, watch for the announcement that USAC has moved the appropriate forms to in-window status. If your form is showing a status other than “Certified – In Window” after that date, check with CSB so that we can verify that your form is in the correct status. Once all of the forms considered in-window have been identified and their statuses updated, USAC will begin verifying the status of forms that still show as out-of-window so that out-of-window letters can be issued.

FCC Announces Comment and Reply Comment Deadline Dates for the E-rate Community Use Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

On February 19, 2010, the FCC released an order and notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) enabling schools that receive funding from the E-rate program to allow members of the general public to use the schools’ Internet access during non-operating hours through Funding Year 2010 (ending June 30, 2011), and seeking comment on revising its rules to make this change permanent.

The FCC set the comment and reply comment deadline for the NPRM as 30 and 45 days, respectively, after publication of the summary of the NPRM in the Federal Register. On March 5, 2010, a summary of the NPRM appeared in the Federal Register. Accordingly, comments will be due on April 5, 2010, and reply comments will be due on April 19, 2010.

Reminder to Complete FCC E-rate Survey

On behalf of the FCC, Harris Interactive, Inc. (Harris), a national marketing research firm, sent out a survey on February 25th by email to randomly selected E-rate applicants to determine the current state of broadband access and usage of schools and libraries and future technological needs.

If you received a survey, the FCC asks that you complete it as soon as possible. For questions related to the survey, please contact Harris at the link provided in the invitation text for the survey. Specifically, if you represent several applicants, Harris will provide you with the applicant name and Billed Entity Number.