Minutes for July 29, 2004 Service Provider Call

IMPORTANT NOTICE —THE TIME FOR NEXT CALL CHANGED TO 1:00 P.M. EDT ON JULY 28, 2004

FUNDING COMMITMENTS

A reminder that service providers can view funding commitments online.

FY2002
FY2002 - No new commitments.
FY2003
FY2003 - Letters in Wave 31 were issued on June 16, 2004; commitments on this Wave totaled $28.3 million; Letters in Wave 32 were issued on June 29, 2004, commitments in this Wave totaled $32.2 million. Total commitments for FY2003 are now $2.615 billion.
FY2004
FY2004 - Letters in Wave 4 were issued on June 8, 2004; commitments on this Wave totaled $78.3 million. Letters in Wave 5 were issued on June 22, 2004; commitments in this Wave totaled $92.6 million. Total commitments for FY2004 are now $271.4 million.

ELIGIBLE PRODUCTS DATABASE PILOT PROGRAM UPDATE
Enrollment by national manufacturers is proceeding, and SLD expects to begin receiving data from enrolled manufacturers about their eligible Internal Connections products on or about July 1.

ELIGIBLE SERVICES UPDATE
SLD has submitted a draft Eligible Services List to the FCC, for use in the next fund year cycle. The FCC's plan is to issue a Public Notice with this draft List attached, and to request public comment. After reviewing the comments received, the FCC will issue a finalized List in the fall of this year.

RENEGOTIATION OR COST ALLOCATION OF CONTRACTS THAT CONTAIN MORE THAN BASIC MAINTENANCE
This is a notification that, as announced on the last service provider call, June 9 was the deadline for applicants and service providers with existing contracts that contain more than basic maintenance either to renegotiate those contracts or to provide a cost allocation that clearly identifies the portion of the cost of the contract price to be allocated to basic maintenance

EARLY FILERS OF FCC FORM 470 FOR FY2005
The guidance for early filers of Form 470 for Funding Year 2005 has been updated since the last service provider call. In the updated guidance, service providers are reminded that they can limit their searches of posted Forms 470 to those posted on or after a certain date.

INVOICING UPDATE

a.	Payments in excess of $114,890k have been processed in June. Lines processed were almost 25,000. Of these, 84% were paid within 30 days and 92% were within 120 days. These payments went to 1,350 SPINs.

b.	Please note that June 30 is the end of Fund Year 2003. Invoices for recurring services are due no later than 120 days after the last date to receive services or 120 days after the Form 486 notification letter date, which ever is later.

OTHER
SLD opened discussion on the RFP process to gain a better understanding of the service providers' roles in that process.

GENERAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RECEIVED BY E-MAIL-

Note: Questions are submitted as received and not edited for content or grammar.


Q.	Does a service provider would need to enroll as a manufacturer - correct, this is quite confusing to me, and I'm hoping someone can clear this up - normally wireless providers don't manufacturer anything, so I'm thinking no; this would be geared more towards internal and internet connections. Christina Halley, Nextel
R.	Only national manufacturers may enroll in the pilot.
Q.	I'm puzzled about the discussion regarding reposting 470's, if a customer changes rate plans within a funding year; large service providers have centralized customer services, and normally try not to put limitations on authorized customer change request. Most provides have an automated system that separates eligible charges vs. non eligible within an automated matter; I'm really puzzled, if you provide month-to-month services, why would this be necessary? Most Large providers supply applicants/customers with quarterly reporting, total eligible charges, dates of auto discounting or 472 - bears processed and posted, date USAC was billed and the amount billed and paid against their FRN, etc. and if applicants/customers aren't utilizing all their funding advise them to file form 500's. I just don't know how this would impact the applicants, if provider's limited changes for a customer based on Erate Status? Please help me here. Christina Halley, Nextel
R.	If an applicant wants to change a service during the funding year, they cannot post a new Form 470. If this is a month-to-month service and the customer is seeking a higher rate plan, than the customer must absorb the difference if it is greater than the amount originally approved for funding. If the customer is seeking a lower rate plan, then the customer would file a Form 500 and request an adjustment to the funding commitment.
Q.	Often it is taking 30+ days before we are initially contacted to send Service Certification forms and copies of invoices. Can we send this information ahead of time? This seems to be slowing the process and we still are having most invoices paid at 60+ days after submittal. Amanda Hyland, CDW Computer Centers
R.	No. The documentation will be requested if needed. You may have prepared documentation ready for submission upon request but SLD does not have the facility to accommodate pre-requested submissions.
Q.	If an applicant changes their monthly price plan from the amount specified in the current funding request and a new service contract is required per the business rules of the service provider, does a new or revised Form 470 allowing for a new 28 day bid window have to be filled? If so, do they have to file for the current and upcoming window as well? Christy Haywood, Nextel Partners
R.	To Be Revised and Discussed On Next Service Provider Call
Q.	If a new service contract is not required, but the price of the plans will change, do they need to refile? Only if the changes are for a specified dollar amount? Christy Haywood, Nextel Partners
R.	To Be Revised and Discussed On Next Service Provider Call
Q.	If the service contract will change and extend into the next funding yea, should the applicant revise the new application to show a multi-year contract? Christy Haywood, Nextel Partners
R.	To Be Revised and Discussed On Next Service Provider Call

REMINDER: PLEASE E-MAIL YOUR QUESTIONS FOR THE SERVICE PROVIDER CALL TO THE CUSTOMER SERVICE BUREAU BY COB ON FRIDAY JULY 23, 2004. PLEASE REMEMBER TO WRITE, "QUESTION FOR SERVICE PROVIDER CALL" IN THE SUBJECT LINE SO THAT YOUR QUESTION IS ROUTED CORRECTLY.

IF YOUR QUESTION IS RELATED TO INVOICING, PLEASE HIGHLIGHT THAT SUBQUESTION SO THAT IT IS ROUTED DIRECTLY TO OUR INVOICING TEAM. ALSO, PLEASE WATCH THE SLD WEBSITE FOR ANY PROGRAM UPDATES.

Content Last Modified: July 19, 2004