E-Rate News Flash - Issue 18-07, August 24, 2018

In this News Flash, the California Department of Education (CDE) presents a new format that includes the following sections:

·Announcements

·Pending Dates and Deadlines

·Upcoming Training Events

·E-rate Process: Activities to Work on Now

Announcements

Funding Year 2019 FCC Form 470 is Available in the E-rate Productivity Center

The FCC Form 470 for Funding Year 2019 is available to file in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC). There are some notable changes in the Form, including new clarification text pertaining to services delivered over fiber. These changes are explained in the June 29, 2018 Schools and Libraries News Brief at https://www.usac.org/sl/tools/news-briefs/preview.aspx?id=839.

Pending Dates and Deadlines

E-rate applicants may view or calculate important deadline dates on USAC's website at https://www.usac.org/sl/tools/deadlines/default.aspx.

Summer Deferral for Program Integrity Review Ends Soon

During the summer contact period, Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) may have placed your application on hold if a PIA reviewer was unable to make a live contact by telephone with the contact person or someone else who has been designated to respond to their questions. The summer deferral period began on Friday May 25, 2018 and will end on the Friday after the Labor Day Weekend. Starting September 7, 2018 application reviews placed on hold will be reactivated and USAC will perform additional outreach.

Service Delivery Deadline for Non-Recurring Services other than Special Construction

The deadline for delivery and installation of non-recurring services such as Category One broadband installation and Category Two Internal Connections is generally September 30 following the close of the funding year (i.e., 15 months after the beginning of the funding year). The exception is for Category One special construction which has a service delivery deadline of June 30 of the applicable funding year.

Applicants with funding requests that contain non-recurring products or services that have not yet been delivered or installed must file a Service Delivery Deadline Extension Request on or before the September 30, 2018 deadline.

Use FCC Form 500 to file an extension request. USAC provides guidance on how to file the extension at https://www.usac.org/sl/applicants/before-youre-done/delivery-extension.aspx.

Invoice Deadline for Funding Year 2017 Recurring Services and Special Construction

The invoice deadline for recurring services is the first business day 120 calendar days after the date of the FCC Form 486 Notification Letter or 120 calendar days after the last date to receive services, whichever is later. October 29, 2018 is the deadline for most applicants and service providers to submit invoices for recurring services and products delivered during Funding Year 2017.

Applicants and service providers may request a one-time, 120-day extension of the invoice deadline. The extension request must be filed on or before the invoice deadline of October 29, 2018. Instructions for completing an Invoice Deadline Extension Request are located at USAC's website at https://www.usac.org/sl/applicants/step06/invoice-deadline-extensions.aspx.

FCC Form 486 Filing Reminder

August 29, 2018 is the FCC Form 486 deadline for Funding Year 2017 applications committed in Wave 52. Additional upcoming FCC Form 486 deadlines are listed below.

Funding Year 2017

·Wave 52 08/29/2018

·Wave 53 No FCDL Data

·Wave 54 09/08/2018

·Wave 55 09/12/2018

·Wave 56 10/26/2018

·Wave 57 11/24/2018

Funding Year 2018

The First FCC Form 486 deadline for FY 2018 will be October 28, 2018.

Applicants missing these or earlier deadlines should closely monitor their News Feed in the E-rate Productivity Center for an FCC Form 486 Urgent Reminder Letter notification. This letter will allow the applicant a 15-day extension to submit an FCC Form 486 without penalty.

Upcoming Training Events

Numerous training opportunities available for E-rate applicants are coming soon.

Universal Services Administrative Company Webinars

https://www.usac.org/sl/about/outreach/training/webinars.aspx

·Invoicing

9/19/2018 at 12:00 p.m.

K12 High Speed Network Webinars and Workshops

https://www.k12hsn.org/resources/erate/overview

·E-rate Invoicing and Form 500

9/13/2018 at 2:00 p.m.

·Beginner's Guide to EPC and FRN Status Tool

9/20/2018 at 2:00 p.m.

EducationSuperHighway Webinars

https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/webinars/

·E-rate 101: What's New for 2018-19?

9/12/2018 at 10:00 a.m.

·E-rate Category 2 Masterclass #1: Optimize Your Internal Network Upgrade

9/19/2018 at 10:00 a.m.

·E-rate Category 2 Masterclass #2: How to Launch a Successful Procurement

9/26/2018 at 10:00 a.m.

E-rate Process: Activities to Work on Now

Collect and Document Bills for FY 2017 Recurring Services

The Funding Year 2017 Invoice Deadline for Recurring Services is October 29, 2018 and is applicable to both the Service Provider Invoice (SPI) and Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) invoicing methods.

The FCC Form 472 (BEAR) is filed after eligible services have been both received and paid for by the applicant. Determining the E-rate eligible costs is accomplished by compiling the bills for the approved services on your FCC Form 471. Arriving at the total eligible costs will require a calculation that is based on the monthly bills for services received during the period of July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. By identifying the eligible services on the bills and deducting the costs for any ineligible services you will arrive at the amount to request reimbursements for on the BEAR.

The FCC Form 474 (SPI) is filed by the Service Provider after the eligible discounts have been applied to the applicant's bills. The process of collecting the bills and calculating the total eligible costs is still necessary for the SPI method in order to confirm that the correct amount of E-rate discounts were applied to the bills.

Remember to retain all bills and calculations to support your E-rate discount requests for a minimum of 10 years from the last date to receive service.

Review Existing Contracts to Verify Terms and Allowable Contract Extensions

Multi-Year Contracts or Contracts with Voluntary Extensions for Recurring Services

A contract that includes voluntary extensions is a contract that expires at the end of its original term, but may be voluntarily extended for one or more years pursuant to the provisions in the contract and original procurement process. The decision to extend a contract with voluntary extensions must occur before the FCC Form 471 is filed for the funding year when the contract would otherwise expire. Contracts for Funding Year 2019 must be valid at a minimum through June 30, 2020. If you do not have allowable extensions through that end date, you may be required to re-bid your services for either a partial or full year of service depending on the contract end date.

Multi-Year Contracts or Contracts with Voluntary Extensions for Non-Recurring Services

Contracts for non-recurring services may be voluntarily extended to coincide with the appropriate deadline for the delivery and installation of non-recurring services, as long as the terms and conditions of the contract and applicable state or local contract rules allow for the extension. The decision to extend a contract with voluntary extensions must occur before an applicant can file its FCC Form 500 for the funding year when the contract would otherwise expire. Currently, contracts for installation and implementation of Funding Year 2017 funding requests must be valid at a minimum through September 30, 2018. If your installation will extend beyond that date, you must have allowable extensions through September 30, 2019 to submit a valid contract extension request. Applicants must file a FCC Form 500 to notify USAC of the revised contract expiration date.

Please note: Non-Recurring service extension requests filed in a FCC Form 500 must also have a joint (collectively or separately) Service Delivery Deadline Extension Request to extend the installation of the project to September 30, 2019.

Schools and Libraries Program Weekly News Briefs on E-rate

The Schools and Libraries Program (SLP), commonly known as E-rate, provides timely information and insight through their Weekly News Brief. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to sign up to receive these communications by visiting the SLP's Web page at http://www.usac.org/sl/tools/news-briefs/Default.aspx .