September 2002 Announcements

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

The SLD has updated its guidance on deadlines for service delivery and invoicing.

We will now accept requests for service delivery deadline extensions and invoice deadline extensions by fax and by e-mail in addition to regular mail. In addition, we will generally accept requests for service delivery deadline extensions up to the last date to receive service for the FRNs affected.

For more information, please refer to Service Delivery Deadlines and Extension Requests and Invoicing Deadlines and Extension Requests.

The SLD has identified and contacted all applicants in Category 1 defined in the new guidance on CIPA for libraries that received funding commitments for Funding Year 2001. Libraries and consortia containing libraries in Category 1 did not check an Item 11 CIPA certification on a Form 486 filed for Funding Year 2001. As stated in this guidance, "Applicants who believe they are in Category 1 but who have not been contacted by the SLD by the time the SLD posts the completion notice should complete and postmark a Form 486 on or before the 10/28/2002 deadline."

For more information, please refer to the New Guidance on CIPA Certifications posted in the Reference Area of this web site.

Yesterday, the Schools and Libraries Committee approved fully funding FY 2002 approved Internal Connections funding requests in the 90% discount band.

The SLD will issue Funding Commitment Decisions Letters (FCDLs) for Wave 13 on Tuesday, October 8, 2002.  Applicants with Internal Connections funding requests at 90% who were issued "As Yet Unfunded" designations on previous FCDLs should be issued second FCDLs with decisions on these requests.

Further information on funding requests for Internal Connections below 90% will be posted on this web site as it becomes available.

The Form 471 application filing window for Funding Year 2003 (July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004) will open at noon EST on Monday, November 4, 2002 and will close on Thursday, January 16, 2003 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

The revised Form 471 for Funding Year 2003 will be available before the opening of the window.  Form 471 may be filed online as soon as the window opens on Monday, November 4.  Please do not file paper Forms 471 before November 4.  Applicants who submit paper Forms 471 that are received before the opening of the window will have their forms returned, and those applicants will have to submit a new Form 471 on or after November 4.

The Funding Year 2003 Form 470 is available now for filing online or on paper.  Remember that Form 470 must be filed in time to complete the required 28-day posting period before executing any contracts for contracted services, before selecting their service provider for tariffed or month-to-month services, and before signing and submitting Form 471.

Under the FCC's MasterMind decision (Order FCC 00-167, released May 23, 2000), if service provider contact information appears on a Form 470 or if a service provider's employee signs a Form 470, and if that service provider also provides one of the categories of service requested on that Form 470, that Form 470 is tainted, and ALL funding requests that rely on that Form 470 will be denied.  This is true even for those categories of service not provided by the service provider in question.

If a funding request is denied for the reason(s) above, the funding synopsis for that funding request on the Funding Commitment Decision Letter will generally feature the following message:

Associated Form 470 contains service provider (SP) contact information. Competitive bidding violation occurs when SP associated with Form 470 participates in competitive bidding process as a bidder.

This message will also appear in the Commitment Status Decision Explanation field ("Commitment Status TXT FCDL") for Funding Request Numbers (FRNs) which reference a tainted Form 470 in the delimited file returned from a search using the Funding Data Retrieval Tool.

We want to clarify that this does not mean that every service provider featured on an FRN with such a denial reason was involved in the Form 470 process or violated program rules.  Rather, it means that the Form 470 cited was invalid, due to the actions of a service provider associated with that Form 470.

The SLD has updated its guidance on service substitutions, SPIN changes and SPIN corrections.

We will now accept requests for service substitutions, SPIN changes and SPIN corrections by fax and by e-mail in addition to regular mail. In addition, we will generally accept requests for service substitutions and SPIN changes up to the last date to receive service for the FRNs affected. Additional guidance has been provided for the situations in which a SPIN correction can be processed.

For more information, please refer to Service Substitutions, SPIN Change Guidance, and SPIN Correction Guidance.

A webcast of the 2002 Train-the-Trainer Workshop is now available. To register to view the webcast, please refer to the Registration Form Information.

The revised Form 486 and Form 479 are now available in the SL Forms section of this web site.  These forms feature a date of September 2002 in the lower right-hand corner of each page.  The revised instructions for these forms are also available in the SL Forms section.

An online version of the Form 486 will be available within the next several weeks.  This online version will be identical in appearance to the printed form.  Applicants with a User ID and a PIN will be able to certify the Form 486 online as well.  A notice will be posted on this web site when the online version is available for filing.

The certifications for purposes of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) on these forms are different for schools and for libraries.  For more information on these certifications and on the requirements of CIPA, please refer to the New Guidance on CIPA Certifications for Funding Years 2001 and 2002 for Applicants that Include Libraries posted in the Reference Area of this web site, and to the revised instructions for the forms posted in the SL Forms section.  Language has also been added to the Form 486 to advise that information provided on this form may be disclosed to the public.

The Form 486 has also been modified so that SLD will be able to automate data entry of paper forms and speed the processing of those forms.

Please note that the paper PDF versions of the Form 486 and Form 479 are only for printing blank forms to fill out by hand.  If you wish to fill out the Form 486 on your computer, please wait for the online form to become available and complete that form and submit it online.

Applicants are encouraged to use the September 2002 versions of Form 486 and Form 479 from this point forward.

The Schools and Libraries Division has made "Authorized to Disburse" data available via its Data Retrieval Tool. The amount shown on the level of the Funding Request Number (FRN) is the funding that has been AUTHORIZED FOR DISBURSEMENT to date. Please note that it is possible that an authorization for an amount was approved, but no disbursement has yet been made for that amount. If you have questions about an amount listed in the data file you create, please contact the service provider on that FRN.

The SLD has completed the registration process for its Train-the-Trainer workshop in Arlington, Virginia on September 9-10, 2002. This workshop has been designed specifically for state and territorial coordinators and others designated by state officials who train or assist in the training of E-rate applicants.

Trainers who are unable to attend the training in person and others with an interest in the E-rate have expressed a desire to access the training presentations. These presentations are now available in PowerPoint format on the "Train-the-Trainer" 2002 Workshop page. A webcast of the training will also be made available within two weeks of the date of this posting. Please watch this web site for details on how to access the webcast

Beginning Monday, September 9, the SLD will apply the normal deadline for information requests. The SLD will again attempt to contact applicants who were not successfully contacted during the summer period, using the applicant's preferred mode of contact. The SLD will then complete the information request process described in the Deadline For Information Requests as posted in the Reference Area of this web site.

Three updates have been made to the blue navigation buttons located in the upper right-hand corner of our web pages.

First, a new button named "SL Overview" has been added to the top of the list. This button accesses the content of the four-page overview document on the E-rate in HTML format. This document is also available in PDF format in the Reference Area under Program Overview.

Second, the button formerly named "How to Apply" has been renamed "Applicants." No content has been changed, and the drop-down menu options have been retained. Third, the button named "SLD Forms" has been renamed "SL Forms." Again, no content has been changed.

We believe these changes will help users access information more easily and will bring greater uniformity among the web pages of the different Universal Service Support Mechanisms.