A.

Funding Commitments for FY2007

We are still making Priority 2 commitments at the 83% discount level and above and denying at 79% and below. We do not know when we will be able to make decisions on 80%, 81%, or 82%. Here is a list of the FY2007 commitments since the last call:

Wave  FCDL Date  Amount
034  1/16/2008  105.7 M
035  1/22/2008  $ 20.3 M
036  1/29/2008  $ 11.7 M
037  2/7/2008   $ 22.2 M

There will not be a wave next week.

B.

FY2008 Window Close Activities

The window will close at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, February 7. Forms 471 must be SUBMITTED ONLINE OR POSTMARKED on or before this date.

In about two weeks, USAC will issue a letter to applicants that submitted a Form 471 online by the close of the window but have not yet certified the form. The letter will establish a 20-day deadline for applicants to postmark a paper certification.

• Applicants that postmark a certification on or before the 20-day deadline will see the status "CERTIFIED - IN WINDOW" after we have successfully data entered their certification.
• Applicants that certify online on or before the 20-day deadline will see the status "CERTIFIED - OUT OF WINDOW" until we have run a query to identify their forms and then moved those forms to the status "CERTIFIED - IN WINDOW."

Meanwhile, USAC continues to process the remaining paper forms and work on the FY2008 Demand Estimate. This is a summary by discount band and category of service of all the requests filed within the filing window. After USAC has completed the Demand Estimate and submitted it to the FCC, it will be posted to the USAC website.

USAC has also begun the application review process for FY2008.

C.

New Automated Search of Commitments Tool

In the next few weeks, the existing Automated Search of Commitments tool will be replaced with an updated tool that is much easier to use. There will be an article in the Friday Schools and Libraries News Brief describing the features of the new tool just before it becomes available.

The tool will be organized by funding year, then by wave. The primary difference from the old version of the tool - other than ease of use - is that the data will be updated every night. In other words, the individual entries and the totals for particular waves may change. For example:

• If an appeal is granted and funding increased on an FRN, both the amount of funding for that FRN and the total for the wave in which it appeared will increase.
• If a Form 500 is filed to reduce a funding commitment on an FRN, both the amount of funding for that FRN and the total for the wave in which it appeared will decrease.

D.

Update on Service Provider Training

We are planning to hold two service provider training sessions in April 2008 - one in the East and one in the West. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for locations, subjects to cover, etc. by February 22.

E.

Invoicing Update

Payments for the month of January totaled $131,878,611.91 against requests for $187 M. In total, 7,519 invoices were processed for 1,458 service providers. This represented 34,688 lines in January with 97% being completed within 30 days.

There are 645 lines in process as of Feb 6.

Invoice Deadline

• The invoice deadline of January 28, 2008 applies to non-recurring services with a service delivery deadline of September 30, 2007.
• BEAR Forms that were not certified by that date may be rejected. Please review your outstanding BEAR Forms that require certification. You can do this by logging into the E-file System and searching for BEAR Forms pending certification.

Invoice Deadline Extensions for FY2007 Recurring Services

• USAC has received over 6,000 requests to extend the October 28, 2008 deadline for specific FRNs. We have processed most of these but we have received almost 1,000 additional requests since December. We have moved more staff to process these requests and we should be current within the next few weeks. In the meantime, please do not submit repeat status requests.
• You can easily check to see if your request has been approved by finding your FRN in the FRN Extension Table and looking at the last date to invoice that appears in the far right-hand column. The table is located under the Search Tools menu on the USAC website.

Other

No items.

General Questions Received by E-mail

1. We currently do not receive an email letting us know that there are BEARS awaiting certification. How do we get this notification?
   
   

   In some cases, you don' t start getting the email notifications until you have approved your first BEAR Form online. If you have done so and you are still not receiving email notifications, please call the Client Service Bureau at 1-888-203-8100 for assistance.

   Remember that you do not need to receive an email before you can log into the system and review any outstanding BEAR Forms. If you log in once a week, you can act on any pending BEAR Forms without missing a deadline.

2. We currently have a number of "old" Bears sitting out online awaiting certification that should really be deleted. Most have also been submitted via paper and approved via paper, so in order not to duplicate we have just been waiting for them to age off the online system. There are a number of them out there so in order not be get confused we are wondering if there is a way to get these deleted?
   
   

   USAC does not currently delete BEAR Forms that have passed the deadline for approval. If you would like to delete them yourself, you can either:

   • DELETE THEM ONE AT A TIME. Review each form and certify it at the bottom of the form without selecting any line items for approval. This effectively denies that BEAR Form.
   • DELETE THEM IN BULK. Use the Download function at the top of the page to download all outstanding BEAR Forms. For each BEAR Form where you leave Column A blank or enter "N," you will deny that form and clear it out of the system when you upload the spreadsheet.
3. How can an applicant tell if a service provider has filed a "global service substitution"? Often the manufacturer of the equipment does not sell directly to the public, only through resellers who would have no idea when and if the manufacturer filed a service substitution for discontinued models. Does the SLD maintain a list of approved "to and from" global service substitutions?
   
   

   USAC does not provide this information to applicants, but applicants can ask either their service providers or the product manufacturers if they have filed a global service substitution. Remember that a global service substitution is not mandatory, because an applicant can obtain the original model instead of the model approved for substitution if it is still available.

4. Several potential customers have insisted in their RFP response that we include a clause/addendum to the proposed contract that they can be released from the contract if their funding is cut dramatically or is denied altogether. They say that the FCC (and by extension USAC) allows them this release clause and it is an FCC mandate. I have been unable to find any such statement in the USAC website in the applicant directions. Am I missing something?
   
   

   There is not an FCC mandate for a release clause. Remember that a contract is negotiated by both parties and both parties to a contract should be comfortable with the terms and conditions of the contract.

   Here are the contract requirements based on FCC rules and policies for the E-rate program:

   • The contract must contain an applicant signature.
   • The contract must contain a date that is on or before the date the Form 471 is signed and submitted.
   • The contract must comply with all applicable state and local procurement rules and regulations and state contract law.

   Also note that USAC will not pay for services delivered after the Contract Expiration Date.

5. Several potential customers have insisted that the effective contract date must be 07/01/YYYY for single year and multi-year contracts. In one instance the actual contract date would have been several weeks after 07/01 but the potential customer is requesting that should they receive a funding commitment, that they would be locked into the pricing starting with the 07/01 invoice even if the date on the contract is after 07/01. Is it correct that contracts must have an effective start date of 07/01?
   
   

   A contract is NOT required to have a service start date of July 1 of the first funding year in which services will start.

   Services may start later than July 1. For example, the applicant and service provider may agree that the installation of the products on a contract will begin during the following summer, because Internal Connections can be delivered and installed through the September 30 following the close of the funding year.

   In some cases, services may start earlier than July 1. For example, if an applicant wants monthly service for a telephone but the line has not yet been installed, the line can be installed before July 1 in order for the applicant to receive service for the entire funding year.