Updates on E-Rate Deadlines

E-rate Filing Window Opens February 27, 2017 The E-rate application window for the 2017–18 funding year will open on Monday, February 27, 2017 at 12:00 noon EST and close on Thursday, May 11, 2017 at 11:59 PM EST. The last possible date to submit an FCC Form 470 to start the E-rate bidding process is April 13, 2017. DEADLINE: Entity Profile Updates in the E-rate Productivity Center The Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) addressed the unique steps required this year for applying for E-rate in their February 3, 2017 Special Edition News Brief.  This News Brief can be found on the SLD’s Web page at http://www.usac.org/sl/tools/news-briefs/preview.aspx?id=746.  There has been a significant change in the E-rate process that has resulted in a new deadline. This new deadline is associated with each Local Education Agency (LEA) updating their school profiles in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC). The deadline for making these changes is 11:59 p.m. (EST) February 26, 2017. The USAC will “lock” the profiles after the deadline. It is important that the data contained in each entity’s profile match the official data for California schools. This match is intended as an aid in the Program Integrity Review (PIA) process. To accomplish this, LEAs are encouraged to update the following in each site’s profile: 1.     Update the Entity name and address to match the California School Directory. http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/sd/index.asp 2.     Update the “Number of Fulltime Students” and the “Total Number of Students Eligible for National School Lunch Program (NSLP)” fields to match the CALPADS data from the 2016 collection period. This information should be available from your CALPADS Coordinator. 3.     Enter the full 14-digit County-District-School (CDS) number in the “State School Code” field, with no spaces or dashes. The CDS number can be found on the California School Directory at http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/sd/index.asp. a.     Some sites that do not have a CDS number may qualify as an Annex. If so, LEAs should create a “Customer Service Case” within the EPC to request the existing Billed Entity Number (BEN) for those sites be listed as “Inactive”, and then added as an Annex to the primary site that does have a CDS number. A detailed discussion of what constitutes an Annex can be found in the March 4, 2016 News Brief on USAC’s Web page at http://usac.org/sl/tools/news-briefs/preview.aspx?id=670 and the March 11, 2016 News Brief on USAC’s Web Page at http://usac.org/sl/tools/news-briefs/preview.aspx?id=671 4.     Verify the contact person’s information on the district’s profile. Since this person will receive communications from USAC, it is important that this be someone who has regular e-mail access and access to the LEA’s EPC account. Large LEAs may use the bulk upload feature of the EPC to upload a single spreadsheet containing the needed updates or corrections. To use this feature: 1.     Log in to the LEA’s EPC account. 2.     Select the parent entity on the landing page. This will take you to a view of the parent entity’s profile. 3.     From the menu on the left of the screen, select Related Actions. 4.     Scroll down and select...