December 1998 Announcements

Please click on the topic below to view the most recent announcements:

Some applicants have experienced difficulty identifying their Funding Commitment Decision Letter. Click here to view sample sections of a letter.

Wave 4 of the Funding Commitment Decisions Letters is scheduled to be issued no later than December 31. It will be followed by additional waves after the in January. (For more information about the waves themselves, see "20 Questions [and Answers] About the Waves," available at the SLC Web Site, www.sl.universalservice.org, or via fax-on-demand, 800/959-0733, document #208.)

We will announce the launch of each wave through a notice on our Web Site and via newsflash, and will post on the Web Site the list of recipients by state once each wave has been released. Applicants who will be away from their offices during the holidays may want to make arrangements to check the Web Site and their mail during this time period. (Note: The five-business-day turnaround for Form 486 does not count school or library vacation days as business days.)

Recipients of funding commitment decision letters who are concerned about the December 31, 1998 due date for the BEAR Form may elect to submit one form with a due date of January 31, 1998.  This tip and others are featured in "Tips for Completing Your Form 472 BEAR."

FCC Form 472, the Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement Form (commonly referred to as the BEAR Form), prescribes that the service provider must remit the approved reimbursement amount to the Billed Entity Applicant no later than 10 days following the receipt of the reimbursement check from the fund administrator. This proposal describes how the SLC and USAC will implement the timing of the BEAR reimbursement process.

Some applicants have questioned how to complete their Forms 472 to seek reimbursement of prepaid services. Click Here for guidance on discounts for prepaid services.

For those applicants that may receive the Funding Commitment Decisions Letters during a holiday break, please be reassured that you will NOT be penalized for waiting to file Form 486 until after your holiday breaks. The Instructions to Form 486, on page 4, prescribe that you must complete and file Form 486 within five (5) business days of certain events. Please note that school and library holidays are not counted when computing the five business day deadline.

This tip and others are featured in "Tips for Completing Your Form 486."

Click here to read "Tips for Completing Your Form 470."

To accommodate 1998 E-rate applicants awaiting their Funding Commitment Decisions Letters, as well as those new applicants who may need a little more time for planning, the SLC has extended the window for E-rate applications for 1999-2000 to 100 days. The window, which opened on December 1, 1998, will now close on March 11, 1999, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

All complete applications received by SLC within the window will be considered as if they had arrived on the same day. Outside the window, applications are considered on a first-come, first-served basis.

To be considered as having applied "in the window," an applicant must first file Form 470, wait 28 days while its Form 470 is posted for bidding (for new services) or held (for pre-existing contracts), and then file Form 471 so it is received by SLC before the window closes.

Applicants have expressed a strong desire for clarity on how far 1998 E-rate funds are likely to reach when it comes to in-the-window internal connections requests below the 90% discount level. The SLC now has enough information about the total volume of E-rate discount requests to be certain that it will be unable to make funding commitments on discount requests for internal connections with approved discount percentages of less than 50%.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This does NOT mean any guarantee of funding for internal connections requests at approved discount percentages of 50%-89%. (Approved internal connections requests at the 90% discount level are already a priority for funding.) See below for more details on SLC's handling of internal connections requests at 50-89% discount levels.

In future waves of funding commitment letters (see Funding Commitment "Waves" Schedule information, below), the SLC will report the unavailability of funding for Funding Request Numbers (FRNs) for internal connections at discount percentages of less than 50%. In addition, SLC will continue to process commitments for internal connections at approved discounts of 90%.

Regarding internal connections requests at approved discount levels of 50%-89%: At this time, there is still too much uncertainty to estimate reliably in advance how far available funds will reach for internal connections requests with approved discounts from 89% down to 50%. As these uncertainties are resolved, we will inform the applicant and service provider communities of any adjustment of the funding threshold for internal connections.

Wave 3 of the Funding Commitment Decisions Letters is expected to be issued no later than December 21. It will be followed by three or more additional waves after the Christmas holiday into January. (For more information about the waves themselves, see "20 Questions [and Answers] About the Waves," available at the SLC Web Site, www.sl.universalservice.org, or via fax-on-demand, 800/959-0733, document #208.)

We will announce the launch of each wave through a notice on our Web Site and via newsflash, and will post on the Web Site the list of recipients by state once each wave has been released. Applicants who will be away from their offices during the holidays may want to make arrangements to check the Web Site and their mail during this time period. (Note: The five-business-day turnaround for Form 486 does not count school or library vacation days as business days.)

The Schools and Libraries Corporation has scheduled a two-hour national satellite videoconference for Thursday, December 17, to provide updates on the post-funding commitment process, plus highlights and tips for applying for E-rate in Year 2.  Initiated by the State of Nebraska Department of Education, the videoconference will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET. Viewers can fax in questions during the videoconference, and are also invited to tape, reuse, and rebroadcast the program for training purposes. SLC will make videotapes available on a free-loan basis after the broadcast.

The satellite coordinates for the videoconference are as follows: C-Band, Galaxy 6/Transponder 17. Downlink frequency: 4040 MHz.  Audio frequency: 6.2/6.8 MHz.

The videoconference will feature the latest news on the waves of funding commitments, updates on filing Form 486 and the Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement Form, and instructions on making post-commitment changes/corrections. The second hour will focus on updates and suggestions regarding the application process for 1999-2000. Those interested in viewing the videoconference are encouraged to check with their state, district, and public library system offices for downlink sites.

On December 1, 1998, the Schools and Libraries Corporation begins accepting E-rate applications for the 1999-2000 funding year. Schools, libraries, and consortia are invited to begin submitting their requests for services by filing a Form 470 application, Description of Services Requested and Certification Form, for discounts on services that will run from July 1, 1999 through June 30, 2000.

The application window, during which all completed applications received will be considered as if they had arrived on the same day, will remain open for at least 80 days, closing on February 19, 1999 at the earliest. The final window closing date will be announced soon as SLC takes fully into account the impact of the notification schedule for the first funding cycle. To qualify as having filed an application "in the window," applicants must successfully file Form 470, wait 28 days, then assure that SLC receives a completed Form 471 before the window closes.

The new operating hours of the SLC web site are from 7:00AM to 1:00AM ET. The two-hour reduction is necessary to accommodate simultaneous data processing of new Forms 470 along with Forms 486, 472, and service provider invoices for the 1998 funding year.

With this opening, clients will be able to:

1)  File Form 470 online. (Form 471 is expected to be available for online filing in January 191999).

2) Download and print out PDF versions of Forms 470 and 471, with revised instructions and updated addresses. (Printed versions of the forms will also be mailed soon to school districts, main libraries, and non-public schools across the nation.) Please note that while the instructions for Form 470 and 471 have been revised for clarification purposes, the forms themselves remain unchanged except for the return address, which is now: Schools and Libraries Corporation, P. O. Box 7026, Lawrence, Kansas 66044-7026.

3) Examine newly filed Forms 470, available in the Service Provider Area.

The SLC Client Service help line, (888) 203-8100 is available toll-free from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. In addition, guidance documents are available via our toll-free fax-on-demand service, (800) 959-0733.

Please note that we are still in the process of updating this site for application guidance for the new year.  New information is available in the Reference Area, Form 470 Guidance; much of the Form 471 Guidance has been removed so that only relevant, current information is available.  In the days ahead, this site will be updated more completely.  Thank you for your patience.

QUESTION: In October 1997, I pre-paid for a year of Internet access under my multi-year contract with my Internet Service Provider. During the 75-day window, I filed a Form 470 listing this as a pre-existing contract and then filed a Form 471 requesting discounts as of January 1, 1998. I received my funding commitment decision letter from SLC approving my requested discount for this service, but when I began preparing my Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement Form (Form 472), I noticed that the instructions say I can be reimbursed only for services delivered AND paid for in 1998. I haven’t lost out on E-rate benefits for the 1998 portion of my pre-paid Internet service, have I?

ANSWER: No, you are still entitled to your discount, and can claim it as a reimbursement via Form 472.

FCC rules prescribe that services must be delivered during the funding year to be eligible for discounts. The May 8, 1997 Universal Service Order further prescribes that schools and libraries may prepay for services over a multiple year period, using their own funds, and may request that the service provider seek universal service support for the pro rata annual share of the pre-payment. Universal Service Order (FCC 97-157) (issued May 8, 1997), para. 544. However, the instructions to FCC Form 472, Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement Form, in Column (12) state "Please note that this date [the customer billed date] must be no earlier than January 1, 1998, because only services received and paid for in the current program year are eligible for discounts."

The Form 472 Instructions must be interpreted in a manner consistent with the FCC rules and orders. Accordingly, please be advised that if a service was delivered during the current program year, but was paid for prior to the current program year as a prepayment of a multiple year period, the cost of the services delivered during the current program year are eligible for discounts and for reimbursement under the Form 472.

Please note that the SLC will not authorize payment for services that were delivered and received prior to January 1, 1998 but were paid for after January 1, 1998. As stated in the SLC’s Clients Commonly Asked Questions, Set III, dated March 2, 1998, Question 1: "SLC will not authorize the disbursement of discounts on facilities or services originally acquired or purchased prior to January 1, 1998. For example, if an eligible school or library originally purchased internal connections prior to January 1, 1998, and later refinanced the purchase sometime after January 1, 1998, the date of service delivery will be the original purchase or acquisition date, which in this example, is prior to January 1, 1998. Consequently, discounts on the internal connections originally purchased prior to January 1, 1998 will not be funded by the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Program."

Please consult the following table to determine whether services are eligible for discounts during the current program year. Remember that, in all instances, the services must be delivered on or after the actual service start date reported in your Form 486, Column (E) of Block 2 and the services must have been approved for discounts via the SLC’s issuance of a funding commitment decision letter.

SLC plans to mail the second wave of funding commitment decision letters later this week. This wave will generate over 3,300 letters, and will provide for some commitments for internal connections at the 90% discount level, consistent with Wave One. Later this week additional information will be posted about the balance of the schedule for mailing notifications.