April 2002 Announcements

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

The FCC Form 470 for Funding Year 2003 (07/01/2003-06/30/2004) is now available for filing. You may file this form online from the Apply Online area of this web site, or download the Form 470 and Instructions from the SLD Forms section of this web site.

Form 470 has been changed slightly from the version dated September 1999, but both versions of the form will be accepted. However, if you are filing manually, you are encouraged to use the April 2002 version.

An information box has been added at the bottom of the certification page, cautioning applicants that service provider involvement with preparation or certification of a Form 470 can taint the competitive bidding process and result in the denial of funding requests.

Top of Page Online Technology Plan Approver Locator Now Available (4/24/01)

As we issue the first Funding Commitment Decision Letters for Funding Year 2002 (07/01/2002 - 06/30/2003), we would like to remind applicants that their next step after receiving a Funding Commitment Decision Letter will be to file FCC Form 486. Applicants who are seeking support for more than basic local and/or long distance telephone service (wireline or wireless) will need to certify on their Form 486 that their technology plan has been approved, and provide the name of the SLD-certified Technology Plan Approver that has reviewed and approved their technology plan.

Applicants that are looking for an SLD-certified Technology Plan Approver can access the new Certified Technology Plan Approver Locator in the Reference Area of this web site under "Technology Planning." This tool will allow you to search our database of SLD-certified Technology Plan Approvers to find one that serves your community.

For more information about Technology Plan requirements, please see the Technology Planning document posted in the Reference Area of this web site.

 

Top of Page SLD to Issue First Funding Wave of Funding Year 2002 (4/19/02)

The first wave of Funding Commitment Decision Letters for Funding Year 2002 will be mailed Wednesday, April 24. The wave will include over 9,300 letters to applicants, notifying them that they will be receiving funding for Priority One services (telecommunications services and Internet access). The letters will reflect commitments of over $189 million in Universal Service discounts.

Estimated demand for Priority One services for Funding Year 2002 totals $1.817 billion. Estimated demand for internal connections at the 90% level for Funding Year 2002 is $2.619 billion. Depending on a variety of factors, and given a total funding cap for Funding Year 2002 of $2.25 billion, USAC for the first time may be unable to fully fund all requests for internal connections at the 90% discount level. Further, USAC may also be unable to fund any internal connections requests below the 90% discount level.

Applicants who receive Funding Year 2002 Funding Commitment Decision Letters should read them carefully. The letters contain information on next steps, including the deadline for filing the Form 486, certification(s) for the purposes of the Children's Internet Protection Act, deadlines for filing invoices, and the procedure for filing appeals.

 

Top of Page New Terminology for Numbering Funding Years (4/12/02)

The terminology that SLD uses for funding years under the Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism is changing. Funding years will now be designated by the calendar year in which they begin. Under the new terminology, Funding Year 1 becomes Funding Year 1998, Funding Year 2 becomes Funding Year 1999, and so on.

The SLD is moving to this new terminology because participants have expressed confusion about the current terminology to SLD.

Future communications from SLD will now use this terminology to refer to all funding years (see the posting immediately below).

In the Demand Estimate Letter to FCC [Word document, 27kb] posted to this web site on 03/01/2002, the SLD concluded that there might not be sufficient funding to fully fund all funding requests at the 90% discount level for Internal Connections in Funding Year 2002.  If that turns out to be the case, applicants in the 90% discount band will receive commitments for Internal Connections for less than the amount they requested, and they may have difficulty proceeding to use the committed funds.

SLD understands that some applicants duplicated their pending Funding Year 2001 requests in their Funding Year 2002 Forms 471 in instances where they had not received their Funding Commitment Decision Letters before the close of the Funding Year 2002 Form 471 application filing window.  Other applicants may have asked for amounts that they hoped they would be able to use, but may now see that they cannot use all they requested.  Or applicants may have based their Funding Year 2002 funding request for a tariffed or month-to-month service on a projected rate increase that is now known to be much smaller than expected.

The SLD encourages applicants who know that they will not use all of their Funding Year 2002 requested amounts to notify the SLD of an appropriate reduction or cancellation of their funding requests.  This action would allow the SLD to distribute the amounts that are available for Funding Year 2002 in ways that will maximize their use.

If you would like to notify the SLD of a voluntary reduction or cancellation of a Funding Year 2002 funding request, please use one of the following methods:

Mark up your RAL to reflect your reduced or canceled funding request.  Follow the steps below to reduce or cancel your funding request by marking up your Receipt Acknowledgment Letter (RAL).  This voluntary reduction or cancellation of a funding request may be done at any time; it is NOT subject to the customary three-week limit for submitting corrections on a marked-up RAL.

If you are in contact with PIA, officially communicate your reduced or canceled funding request to your PIA representative.  If a representative of the Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) team is already in contact with you because of a review of your Funding Year 2002 application, your representative can provide you with information on the procedure for reducing or canceling your funding request with your representative.

File an FCC Form 500 after you have received your funding commitment for Funding Year 2002.  If you must wait until after you receive your Funding Commitment Decision Letter to notify the SLD that you are ready to reduce your funding commitment, you can file an FCC Form 500 to reduce or cancel your commitment.  The sooner the SLD can process your request to reduce or cancel your commitment amount, the faster the SLD can return the difference between the original and reduced or canceled commitments to the funds from which SLD can provide funding commitments.  The FCC Form 500 and Instructions can be found in the SL Forms section of this web site.

Pursuant to a request by the FCC, USAC has filed comments on the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) and Order, FCC 02-8. This NPRM initiates a review of certain rules governing the universal service support mechanism for schools and libraries.

A copy of the comments made by USAC is available in PDF format [199kb]. Go to USAC comments.

Reply comments relating to the NPRM are due by May 6, 2002. Comments may be filed with the FCC on paper or electronically. Instructions for filing comments may be found in the NPRM [PDF format, 290kb].