Before You Begin

Two-in-Five Rule

Starting with Funding Year (FY) 2005, eligible entities are only able to receive support for internal connections in two of every five funding years. This applies to individual recipients (individual schools, libraries, or non-instructional facilities).

For each eligible entity, the five-year period begins in any year in which that entity receives support for internal connections. Entities can use two years within any five-year period, looking back and looking forward from that year. FY 2007 was the first year that entities were ineligible for internal connections funding based on this rule (for entities that received funding for both FY2005 and FY2006 internal connections requests). The Two-in-Five Tool gives you information on an entity’s eligibility for funding of internal connections requests for multiple funding years.

This rule does not apply to telecommunications and Internet access services or to basic maintenance of internal connections services categorized as Priority 2. Basic maintenance services are eligible for support each year if they are necessary to the operation of the internal connections network.

An entity will be considered to have used a year if that entity has been specified in the FCC Form 471 Block 4 worksheet cited on one or more approved internal connections funding requests in that year.

Two-in-Five Tips

The rule:

• applies at the individual school, library or non-instructional facility level
• applies regardless of the Billed Entity on the application
• does not count funding years used based on whether or not you have invoiced USAC but rather on commitments
• applies regardless of the type of Internal Connections services (for example, you don’t have two years to get routers and two different years to get PBXs)

Carefully review the entities in the Block 4 worksheet(s) – include just those that will actually receive service. Each entity on the Block 4 worksheet uses a year.

If all requested Internal Connections funding requests are denied, then no Internal Connections support has been received for that funding year. Furthermore, if an FCC Form 500 (Adjustment to Funding Commitment and Modification to Receipt of Service Confirmation Form) is submitted that cancels all approved Internal Connections funding requests prior to the receipt of any of the specified products and services and prior to any payment by USAC, then no Internal Connections support has been received for that funding year.

Applicants can remove entities from a Block 4 worksheet in order to gain a year of eligibility for those entities under the Two-in-Five Rule. However, if USAC has disbursed funds on the Funding Request Number (FRN) that features that worksheet, the entities listed in the worksheet cannot return the funds and regain a year.