E-Rate Central News for the Week of November 2, 2009

· FY 2008 – FY 2010 Funding Status

· E-Rate Updates and Reminders

· Schools and Libraries News Brief dated October 30^th — Form 470

The E-Rate Central News for the Week is prepared by E-Rate Central. E-Rate Central specializes in providing consulting, compliance, and forms processing services to E-rate applicants. Additional E-rate information is located on the E‑Rate Central Web site (http://www.e‑ratecentral.com). To learn more about our services, please contact us by phone (516-801-7804) or through our Contact Us Web form (http://www.e-ratecentral.com/contactUs/contactForm.asp).

FY 2008 – FY 2010 Funding Status

No funding wave for FY 2008 is scheduled for release this week. The SLD indicated that it is close to being able to support Priority 2 requests at the 87% level, but is encouraging applicants to file Form 500s for funds they will not need to free up a few million dollars more.

Wave 26 is scheduled for release on November 3^rd for $29 million. Cumulative FY 2009 funding is $1.2 billion. Although Priority 2 funding is still being provided for discounts of only 85% or more, the Schools and Libraries Committee of the USAC Board has recommended dropping the threshold to 80% subject to FCC approval. The SLD indicated that over $20 million is available for funding below 80% — approximately half the initial demand at the 70‑79% level.

Again subject to FCC approval, including the formal release of the Eligible Services List, the Schools and Libraries Committee approved a FY 2010 application window with opening and closing dates on or about December 1^st and February 15^th, respectively. Since February 15^th falls on a Monday holiday, President’s Day, we expect a more traditional filing deadline on the previous Thursday, February 11^th.

E-Rate Updates and Reminders

Missed October Filing Deadlines:

The deadline for filing invoices with USAC for discounts on recurring services received during the 2008-2009 fiscal year was last week (October 28^th). The invoice deadline applied to both applicant BEARs (Form 472s) and service provider SPIs (Form 474s). In order to submit an invoice after this, the filer must first request, and be granted, an Invoice Deadline Extension (which USAC has recently been willing to grant if requested within four months (see http://www.universalservice.org/sl/applicants/step11/invoice-deadlines-extension-requests.aspx).

Applicants who submitted online BEAR forms close to the invoice deadline should make sure that their BEARs were acknowledged by their service providers before the deadline. If not, the applicants will have to request an extension and re-file the BEARs. [Note: It remains a mystery to us why USAC — which encourages online filings — will not automatically provide at least a minimal extension for BEARs filed, but not approved by the deadline.

For most applicants funded in FY 2009 waves 1-10, the deadline for filing a Form 486 (containing the necessary certifications on technology plan approval and CIPA compliance) was also last week (October 29^th). USAC does have an automatic procedure for providing limited relief from the Form 486 deadline. Applicants who miss the deadline will be alerted and given an additional 15 days to file. It is better, of course, not to rely on USAC’s largess in this matter. November Form 486 deadlines for later waves are as follows:

Wave 11 11/04/2009

Wave 12 11/11/2009

Wave 13 11/18/2009

Wave 14 11/25/2009

Fall E-Rate Training:

Copies of the SLD’s 2009 Training Slides are available on the SLD’s Web site (see http://usac.org/sl/about/training-presentations/training-presentations-archive/training-2009/fall/materials.aspx).

Increasing NSLP eligibility:

The economy, although hopefully improving, is still in bad shape. Students in families that may never before have availed themselves of the National School Lunch Program (“NSLP”) may now be eligible. One school district, in a basically middle-class community with which we are familiar, has reported a 44% increase in lunch program participation this fall. Higher levels of NSLP eligibility often translate into higher E-rate discounts. This suggests the following courses of action:

Extra efforts should be taken this year to educate parents on the availability of NSLP assistance, and to encourage eligible families to enroll their children in the program.
Consider obtaining (and documenting) the most current NSLP data prior to filing Form 471 applications for FY 2010. If this fall’s numbers are higher, it may be worth the effort to document the more current eligibility data.

State-by-state Internet speed comparisons:

Akamai Technologies volunteered an interesting report to the FCC last week entitled Observed Average Internet Speeds for U.S. Network Connections (see http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/document/view?id=7020243366). The report contains average quarterly download speeds in each state from 1Q08 to 2Q09. Nationwide, the average speed in the last quarter reported was 4,059 Kbps, up 12% from the beginning of 2008. Average download speeds for the ten largest cities (as defined by the number of IP addresses) within each state is also provided.

Schools and Libraries News Brief dated October 30^th — Form 470

http://www.universalservice.org/sl/tools/news-briefs/preview.aspx?id=263

The SLD News Brief for October 30, 2009, reviews the rules for filing Form 470s. The review covers the following topics and is recommended reading:

Situations requiring filing of a Form 470 (which, for most applicants, is required every year)
Important dos and don’ts
Coordination with RFP, if required
28-day posting requirement
Special situations involving:

Multi-year contracts
Contracts with voluntary extensions
Contracts not requiring new Form 470s
Contracts expiring before the end of a funding year

Correcting a Form 470 during the RNL process
Posting a requirement in the wrong service category

In our experience, the problems most likely to arise from the Form 470 process are as follows:

Failing to have the Form 470 based on an existing technology plan. For everything except the most basic telephone services, an applicant must have created a technology plan, covering all services to be requested, before filing a Form 470 for the upcoming funding year. Although the plan need not be approved at that point, it must exist and its existence must be documented (e.g., by e-mail record). An applicant with an approved technology plan expiring June 30, 2010, must pay particular attention to this requirement.
Failing to wait 28 days before selecting vendors and/or signing contracts. If an RFP is used, the effective allowable contract/vendor selection date is the later of 28 days after the posting of the Form 470 or the issuance of the RFP.
Filing a Form 470 too late in the application cycle. Because of the 28-day waiting period, a valid Form 470 cannot be filed later than 28 days before the end of the application window. If our guess on the application window deadline is correct (February 11^th), the last possible date to file a Form 470 for FY 2010 would be January 14, 2010. We strongly suggest not waiting to the last possible day. Try to file all Form 470s by mid-December at the latest.
Failing to indicate the use of an associated RFP (or vice versa – i.e., indicating the availability of an RFP, but not issuing one). Note that the RFP (or non-RFP) indication is required for each service category. If, in a given category, some services will require RFPs and others will not, the applicant must file two Form 470s, one for RFP services and one for the other services.
Not including services in the proper categories. Two common problems in this regard involve:

Internal Connections maintenance bundled with Internal Connections equipment installations. The maintenance and the equipment installation must be separated into the two Priority 2 categories.
Wireless mobile data services (e.g., Blackberry) which is considered an Internet Access service, but is often bundled with cellular voice as a Telecommunications service. To be safe, the Form 470 should include wireless mobile data services under both Priority 1 categories.

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Disclaimer: This newsletter may contain unofficial information on prospective E-rate developments and/or may reflect E-Rate Central’s own interpretations of E-rate practices and regulations. Such information is provided for planning and guidance purposes only. It is not meant, in any way, to supplant official announcements and instructions provided by either the SLD or the FCC.