MINUTES OF JULY 2, 2003 SERVICE PROVIDER CALL

The Task Force held its third meeting on June 26-27 in Arlington, Virginia.  A fourth and final meeting is planned for mid-August.  At this meeting, the Task Force discussed both the draft recommendations posted to this web site and additional recommendations.  An update on this meeting will be posted to this web site in about two weeks.

The FCC issued dates for the pleading cycle for comments on the Second Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.  The comment date is July 21, 2003 and the reply comment date is August 19, 2003.

The SLD will be issuing a summary version of the Second Report and Order on the website in the next couple of weeks.  The summary will also contain the implementation and effective dates.  It is important to note that not all issues addressed by the Second Order take effect 30 days after the publication of the Order in the Federal Register, which is July 21, 2003.  Some of the issues, including voicemail and cell phones, take effect on July 1, 2004.

On June 30, the FCC issued a Public Notice (DA 03-2117) on the status of Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) filtering rules for libraries following the recent Supreme Court decision.  According to the notice, the Commission will provide further guidance on a reasonable schedule for libraries to acquire and install filtering software, consistent with their certification obligations under CIPA.

A reminder that service providers can view funding commitments online.

• FY2002

  The SLD issued the last regular wave of FCDLs for FY2002 on June 27.  Commitments will continue to be issued as reviews are completed, but they will no longer be issued on a regular two-week schedule.

• FY2003

  Wave 6 of Funding Year 2003 was issued on June 30.  Additional waves will be issued every two weeks from this point forward.  Commitments to date in FY2003 total over $654 million.

Funding Year 2003 Wave 1 - electronic notification file had format changes due to version issues in the code.  This was an error.  On May 8, 2003, SLD resent the files with a note explaining the problem with the May 1, 2003 files.  If you still have the May 1 files, please discard them and refer to the May 8, 2003 version.  This error has been corrected in all subsequent transmissions.

The first clarification involves eligibility for cable modems and similar devices.  Recently, the SLD indicated that the eligibility of "on-premise Priority 1 equipment" required that the equipment be capable of being shared by other potential customers of the service provider.  Basic terminating components such as CSU/DSU's and cable modems are not technically shareable in this way, which raised questions about their eligibility as part of on-premise Priority 1 equipment.  The upcoming clarification will indicate that a "single basic terminating component," such as a CSU/DSU or cable modem, can be obtained as a part of a Priority 1 service.  The Eligible Services List currently indicates this is the case for a CSU/DSU, and will be updated to reflect this approach for terminating equipment such as cable modems.

The second expected clarification involves which up-front costs of a wide area network constructed by a service provider can be recovered on an up-front basis.  Initial reimbursement of all such costs is not generally available, since applicants are presumed to be able to utilize shared infrastructure facilities.  This clarification focuses on initial recovery of all up-front costs, and does not impact the potential recovery of costs by a service provider over the length of a long term contract.

The FCC has published a notice in the Federal Register seeking comment on revisions to the FCC Form 498.  Comments are due by July 7, 2003.  This is a reminder that the Form 498 is used to acquire a SPIN and to update or change contact and remittance information.  The revised Form 498 is not yet in use.  It is currently anticipated that the revised Form 498 will become available in August 2003.

Form 470 for FY2004 became available for filing on June 10.  There are two "views" of Form 470 for online filers - the PDF form and the Interview format.  The Interview format asks a series of questions and completes a Form 470 based on the answers provided by the applicant.  Applicants can start a Form 470 using one format and then continue with the other format if they wish to do so.  Forms 470 can be certified online or on paper.

On June 19, 2003, SLD sent a second notice to approximately 175 service providers who had not yet filed their SPACs for 2002.   Invoices received by the SLD after February 28, 2003, will not be paid unless USAC has a Service Provider Annual Certification Form 473 (SPAC) on file for the funding year associated with the invoice.  Invoices include both the Service Provider Invoice Form 474 (SPI) and the Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement Form 472 (BEAR).  While BEARs may have been processed without regard to the presence of a SPAC from the service provider, that practice will be discontinued.

All service providers are required to submit the SPAC each funding year.  Each service provider lists one or more Service Provider Identification Numbers (SPINs) on the SPAC and confirms that invoice forms submitted will be in compliance with the FCC's rules governing the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism and subject to audit.

SLD is delighted to report that we have achieved our target goal of processing 80% of all FY2003 FCDLs.  We are continuing to issue commitments every two weeks.

REMINDER:  PLEASE E-MAIL YOUR QUESTIONS FOR THE SERVICE PROVIDER CALL TO SERVICE PROVIDER BY COB FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2003.