April 1999 Announcements

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

As processing of E-rate applications for Year 2 shifts into high gear, the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) offers the following news and reminders about remaining Year 1 activities.

File a BEAR Today!

The Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) process is available through the end of this first program year to help you claim reimbursement for discounts on bills you’ve paid in full for E-rate approved services. Thousands of applicants have already submitted BEARs and received their reimbursements for services rendered in calendar year 1998 (over $200 million has been authorized to date for reimbursement). Many will also be using the BEAR process for services they receive and pay for from January through June 1999.

To get faster reimbursement and avoid the processing crunch in June, the SLD encourages you to send in quarterly BEARs rather than submitting one BEAR at the end of the program year. In fact, NOW is the perfect time to send in your BEAR forms for E-rate approved services you’ve received and paid for from January through March 31, 1999. Remember, your BEAR must include your service provider’s signature on Block 4, but this signature need not be original. For more tips on successfully completing your BEAR forms, see www.sl.universalservice.org/Reference/472/BEAR.asp, or call our toll-free fax-on-demand service, 800/959-0733, and key in document #513.

Update on 1998 Appeals

The SLD is moving rapidly to complete its review of appeals filed by applicants regarding our 1998 funding commitment decisions. Just over 1,500 appeals are under consideration, and virtually all of them have been through initial review. Applicants are notified by letter of the SLD’s final decision on their appeal; appeals may be denied, granted, or partially granted. Hundreds of these appeal decision letters have already been sent out, and more are issued each day. Those whose appeals are granted in whole or in part will then receive a follow-up funding commitment letter in May. Applicants who wish to further appeal our decisions may send their appeal to the Federal Communications Commission within 30 days of the date that the SLD issued its decision in response to the applicant’s appeal. See www.sl.universalservice.org/Reference/appeals.asp, or call our toll-free fax-on-demand service, 800/959-0733, and key in document #511.

Necessary SPIN Corrections

The SLD staff has also been busy processing corrections to Service Provider Identification Numbers (SPINs) that were listed incorrectly in 1998 funding commitment letters due to your error or ours, or due to service provider mergers and acquisitions. If you need to request such a SPIN correction and have not already done so, please send your correction request in writing to:

Schools and Libraries Division, Box 125 -- Correspondence Unit, 100 South Jefferson Road, Whippany, NJ 07981.

Applicants who have requested a SPIN change because their service provider has gone out of business or refuses to participate in the program are advised that these SPIN changes will be addressed in the near future.

During the next several months, we will be working to re-design the SLD Web Site to better serve your needs. Our first step was to change the URL web address to www.sl.universalservice.org, a change that reflects our merger with the Schools & Libraries (USAC). We have recently re-designed the USAC Web Site (www.universalservice.org) to reflect our unified corporate structure, and the SLD Web Site will be designed in a similar fashion.

We are eager to receive any additional comments or suggestions you may have about improving the SLD Web Site. Our vision is to integrate the existing information on our site into a more user-friendly structure.   Among the functionalities we will incorporate into the SLD Web Site are a search engine, a more widely accessible Online Form 471, and a detailed site map. Please send an E-mail to Shannon Sullivan at comments@universalservice.org with your thoughts and ideas. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!

Special Note: For the next six months, users will be redirected to the new URL when logging onto the original web address (www.slcfund.org). Please update any links you may have to the original site with this new URL.

In its Tenth Order on Reconsideration released on April 2, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) acted on two urgent issues affecting participants in the 1998 E-rate program.

Relief for Those with Contracts Expiring Before 12/31/98

The Tenth Order grants relief to applicants whose contracts for telecommunications services and Internet access expired before December 31, 1998. Originally, these applicants were prohibited from voluntarily extending their contracts through June 30, 1999-the end of the 1998 program year-and were not qualified to receive the six additional months of funding granted to those with telecommunications services and Internet access contracts expiring on or after December 31, 1998. With the Tenth Order, the FCC now permits those with telecommunications services or Internet access contracts that expired prior to December 31, 1998, to extend those contracts through June 30, 1999, and to qualify for additional discounts on services received under those contracts from January 1, 1999 through June 30, 1999. (Funds will not be available for the period between the original contract expiration date and December 31, 1998.) The Schools and Libraries Division will contact affected applicants soon with more information and instructions regarding the next steps they should take.

More Time to Complete 1998 Installation Projects

A number of schools and libraries who received funding for internal connections and other non-recurring services have expressed concerns about their ability to complete this work before the 1998 funding cycle ends on June 30, 1999. In the Tenth Order, the FCC grants applicants an additional three months to use their funding commitments for nonrecurring services such as internal networking projects or installation of T-1 lines. The Order states that applicants funded for such non-recurring services can extend their contracts and use their funds for those services through September 30, 1999. No additional funding will be committed for these non-recurring services. The SLD will soon provide applicants with step-by-step guidance in this regard.

More than 32,000 applications requesting discounts for communications services from the E-rate fund have been submitted by schools and libraries across the country. At the close of the application window for Year Two, the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Schools & Libraries (USAC) announced that they had received 2,000 more applications for Year Two than received in the application window for Year One.

"The E-rate gives our nation's schools and libraries a chance to get connected to the Information Superhighway," said Kate L. Moore, SLD President. "Demand for the E-rate demonstrates to the public the high level of need for communications and technology in our schools and libraries."

Schools and libraries began applying for Year Two discounts on December 1, 1998, via the Web Site or on paper. This year, the SLD established a longer application window (127 days compared to last year's 75-day window) to give educators and librarians enough time to complete the two-part application process after learning of their E-rate commitments for Year One. The window closed on April 6, 1999.

In the first program year, the SLD received more than 30,000 applications within a 75-day application window. Almost 26,000 of these applications received some E-rate funding for the 1998 funding year - January 1, 1998 through June 30, 1999.

The Universal Service Control Number (USCN) is the 15-digit number assigned by the administrator to each Form 470 submitted each program year. You use the Form 470 USCN to make the connection between the information provided on Form 470 and the services you are requesting discounts on through Form 471, Items 15 and 16. Each row (Funding Request) you complete on Form 471 in Items 15 and 16 must include a valid USCN - one that links to a properly completed Form 470.