April 2003 Announcements

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

Following is a list of the documents or pages that have changed on this web site since the last posting on updates:

The list of members of the Task Force on the Prevention of Waste, Fraud and Abuse has been updated. Biographical information is now available for both the representative for Internet Service Providers and the replacement representative for Internal Connections service providers. In both cases, the e-mail links to the representatives have not changed, and any e-mails already sent using the links provided will still reach the appropriate member.

Certain Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) for Funding Year 2002 dated April 21, 2003, and later will contain a new status descriptor for Funding Request Numbers (FRNs). This status, “Under Review,” means that information has come to our attention during the course of our Program Integrity Assurance review process that has raised concerns regarding certain aspects of this FRN. These FRNs will require additional review before commitment decisions can be made.

The SLD has created this status so that funding decisions can be issued on other FRNs featured on the same Form 471 as the FRNs that are “Under Review.” When the SLD has completed its review of the FRNs under review, it will issue decisions on those FRNs in separate FCDLs.

Following is a list of the documents or pages that have changed on this web site since the last posting on updates:

The Reference Area document Form 486 Deadlines has been updated to include guidance on filing Form 486 when an applicant has requested or plans to request a Service Substitution or a SPIN Change.  Links to this document has been added to both Service Substitutions and SPIN Change Guidance to direct applicants to this guidance.

The sample document E-RATE SELECTIVE REVIEW INFORMATION REQUEST has been watermarked “Sample Only - Do Not Submit” so that applicants do not print this form directly from the web site for submission.  Applicants required to complete this form will receive it by fax or by email, and the information fields at the top of the first page will already be populated.

Question #19 in the Reference Area document Frequently Asked Questions about Eligibility of Products and Services has been revised.  In the paragraph about equipment not purchased with E-rate discounts, the phrase “fair market value” has been replaced by “fair market value or acquisition cost, whichever is lower” for clarity.

Wave 1 for Funding Year 2003 will be issued during the last week of this month. Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) issued for this wave will contain only Priority 1 requests - that is, requests for discounts on Telecommunications Services and Internet Access. At this time we have no estimate regarding at what level we will fund Priority 2 (Internal Connections) requests.

The demand estimate that the SLD filed with the FCC and posted on this web site on April 3, 2003, showed that demand for Priority 1 was $1.745 billion - much less than the annual cap of $2.25 billion available for disbursements under the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism. SLD's Program Integrity Assurance review team has been focusing on applications with Priority 1 requests only, and it is those applications that will be the subject of FCDLs in the early waves for Funding Year 2003.

Applicants were urged to separate their Priority 1 and Priority 2 requests for Funding Year 2003 and enter them on different Forms 471. For Funding Year 2002, there were 5,524 applications that combined Priorities 1 and 2; that number is down to 2,196 for Funding Year 2003.

The SLD has announced the names of the members of its Task Force on the Prevention of Waste, Fraud and Abuse. The list of members, including affiliations, groups represented, and short biographies, appears in the link at the end of this message.

The Task Force will meet three times to review all aspects of the E-rate program and make recommendations on changes that could be made to help prevent waste, fraud and abuse.

Members of the Task Force will actively solicit input from their constituent groups between the first and last meetings in order to present ideas and concerns to the Task Force. The SLD has included an e-mail link to each member on the list for those who have input they would like to provide. The SLD and the Task Force members ask that input be limited to e-mail in order to facilitate communication without undue demand on members' time. Also, e-mail messages should feature the words "Task Force" at the beginning of the subject line.

Following is a list of the documents or pages that have changed on this web site since the last posting on updates:

A new question (#19) has been added to the Reference Area document Frequently Asked Questions about Eligibility of Products and Services. This question clarifies the conditions under which an applicant can use a credit from a trade-in of equipment toward the payment of the applicant’s non-discounted share under E-rate.

A new question (#1) has been added to the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Reference Area document Service Substitutions. This question clarifies the meaning of the phrases “consistent with the … original RFP” and “consistent with the establishing Form 470.” Also, the answer to question #2 has been rewritten for clarity.

An additional linked title, “Item 25 Certification for Form 471,” has been added to the Reference Area. This title provides another link to the Item 25 discussion in the Form 471 Reminders document. An additional link to the sample document E-RATE SELECTIVE REVIEW INFORMATION REQUEST has been added to the competitive bidding section of the Form 470 Reminders.

On April 3, 2003, the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) reported to the Federal Communications Commission that $4.718 billion in requested funding has been estimated for schools and libraries seeking E-rate discounts for Funding Year 2003. This estimate is based on the dollars requested in 41,146 applications received or postmarked by February 6, 2003, the close of the Form 471 application filing window. There are several factors that will reduce ultimately the funds requested from the estimated level. First, while efforts have been made to eliminate duplicate requests, inevitably we will discover more duplication as we process these applications. Second, the SLD's efforts to assure that applications are substantially complete and that funds are committed only for eligible services, for use by eligible entities with the appropriate discount rate, and are otherwise consistent with program rules, will further reduce the demand.

For detailed information, please refer to the FY2003 Demand Estimate Letter to FCC [PDF document: 72kb] and the FY2003 Demand Estimate Breakdown [PDF file: 73kb].