The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has initiated multiple response measures in the last week to support our nation’s schools in their response to Novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

To minimize potential disruptions caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has directed the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to extend the deadline for E-Rate applicants to submit their Funding Year (FY) 2020 FCC Form 471 applications by an additional 35 days. E-Rate applicants will now have until Wednesday, April 29, 2020, at 8:59 p.m. PDT to submit their FY2020 FCC Form 471 applications.

As of March 9, 2020, 987 FCC Forms 471 have been certified with an associated 1,777 individual funding requests. Approximately 26% of funding requests filed for California applicants are in Application Wave Ready or Final Review status. As mentioned in our previous News Flash, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) is actively reviewing these applications now in Program Integrity Assurance Review (PIA). Applicants have 15 days to respond to USAC’s questions. Questions are submitted to the FCC Form 471 contact via e-mail and must be responded to in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) by the 15-day deadline. Applicants may request a seven-day extension in order to respond to USAC’s request for information.

As of February 26, 2020, 669 FCC Forms 471 have been certified with an associated 1,148 individual funding requests. Approximately 38% of funding requests filed for California applicants are in Application Wave Ready or Final Review status. As mentioned in our previous News Flash, USAC is actively reviewing these applications now in Program Integrity Assurance Review (PIA). Applicants have 15 days to respond to USAC’s questions. Questions are submitted to the FCC Form 471 contact via e-mail and must be responded to in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) by the 15-day deadline. Applicants may request a seven-day extension in order to respond to USAC’s request for information. It is important to monitor PIA review status as failure to respond may result in funding denial. Applicants with 15-day Expired Notifications will receive individual outreach from the California State E-rate Support Team.

FCC Eliminates Requirement to Amortize Funding Requests for Installation/Special Construction Charges Exceeding $500,000 In order to promote adoption of high-speed broadband connectivity, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC has) now permanently eliminated the requirement to amortize funding requests for Category One non-recurring installation and special construction for costs exceeding $500,000. This will help schools that need to pay significant up-front charges to bring broadband to their schools, allowing them to request funding on the full charge in the first year of the contract. The full text of FCC 20-3 can be found at https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-eliminates-e-rate-amortization-requirement.

E-rate competitive bidding rules require that a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Form 470 be posted for a minimum of 28 days before filing an associated FCC Form 471 funding request. The E-rate applicant must also follow all E-rate competitive bidding rules. Note that the last date to file an FCC Form 470 and meet the minimum 28-day requirement, and also meet the FCC Form 471 filing deadline of March 25, would be February 26, 2020. It’s important to note, however, that compliance with E-rate competitive bidding requirements, as well as the time necessary to complete an FCC Form 471, make it unrealistic for most applicants to file their FCC Forms 470 on February 26th. Best practices are for applicants to plan for a 30-60 day competitive bidding cycle to allow for unexpected changes, review bids received, and award contracts. If you have not yet posted your FCC Form 470 for Funding Year 2020, and expect that you will need to do so, do not delay. More information on FCC Form 470 and competitive bidding best practices is available on the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) Webinars web page at https://www.usac.org/e-rate/learn/webinars/.

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) has announced the annual E-rate application FCC Form 471 filing window for Funding Year 2020. It will open at 9:00 AM PST on Wednesday, January 15, 2020, and close at 8:59 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, March 25, 2020. All applicants who are seeking E-rate funding for eligible services delivered between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, must file their annual FCC Form 471 funding requests in USAC’s E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) online portal by the March 25 deadline.

On Tuesday, December 3, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an Order at https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-acts-speed-deployment-wi-fi-schools-and-libraries outlining the rules for a permanent Category Two funding mechanism for eligible schools and libraries. Category Two services enable the distribution of a broadband signal on a school’s campus, commonly known as “WiFi.”

The K12 High Speed Network has two new resources to assist schools in learning E-rate program requirements and completing the annual application and funding process. The E-Rate Training Roadmap and Resource Guide at https://www.k12hsn.org/resources/erate/training will assist schools through each step of the E-rate funding process from start to finish and provides links to additional training resources, including webinars, guides, and videos published by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), California Department of Education (CDE), and K12HSN.

As of October 11, 2019, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) has opened the Administrative Window for updating entity profile information in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) portal. Profile information includes an entity's classification, address, enrollment, National School Lunch Program information, and Urban/Rural status and is the basis of the discount calculation in the FCC Forms 471. USAC provides this courtesy update window each fall prior to the opening of the annual FCC Form 471 filing window. Applicants should carefully monitor and/or update their entity profiles from now until early next year at which time USAC will lock the data in EPC until the FCC Form 471 application window closes.