Hi folks!

 

I wanted to send a few reminders about where we are in the E-Rate process.

 

USAC issued a very lengthy August NewsBrief with a lot of helpful information.  You can see the newsletter in its entirety here.  For sake of helping to get to the points that will best help the majority of you, I’ve pulled some highlights below;

 

• As a reminder, Funding Year (FY) 2023 applicants who have received a funding commitment from USAC and whose services have started can certify an FCC Form 486 (Receipt of Service Confirmation and Children's Internet Protection Act Certification Form).
•  Applicants should carefully review the FCC Form 486 to confirm the correct CIPA certification status is selected, and that the service start date on the form is correct. Please confirm the service start date(s) with your service provider before submitting the FCC Form 486.

 

Though I covered this in a previous email to the list, it is always helpful to mention potential new requirements for some of you invoicing USAC again!  If you had to create/update a new 498 ID (to update banking information for reimbursements from USAC), that involved some changes/new information requirements:

 

• if you are an applicant that intends to invoice USAC by filing an FCC Form 472 (Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) Form) and have not yet certified an applicant FCC Form 498 (Service Provider and Billed Entity Identification Number and General Contact Information Form). Remember that you need to recertify your form if you have made any changes, such as updating your banking information. The FCC now requires all entities (applicants and service providers) to have an active SAM.gov Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) if they submit a new FCC Form 498 or modify their existing form. See the April 2023 E-Rate News Brief for more information.

 

 

For those of you who invoice USAC for your E-Rate reimbursements with an FCC Form 472 (BEAR) form, here are some helpful reminders;

Some applicants and service providers have experienced automatic denials or manual reviews where they have entered incorrect dates on their invoices (FCC Form 472 /applicant BEAR Form and FCC Form 474 /Service Provider Invoice (SPI) Form) for specific Funding Request Number (FRN) line items. This includes FRN invoice line items for both recurring and non-recurring services. We are providing the reminders below to assist program participants with correctly entering dates on invoice forms.

On both BEAR and SPI Forms, the Customer Billed Date field is for recurring services and the Shipping Date to Customer is for non-recurring services. A single FRN line item should have a date in one field or the other, but not both fields.

The date in the Customer Billed Date field for each line item should be the date of the customer bill, that is, the date of the bill sent by the service provider to the applicant. The customer bill will either be for the full cost of the service (if the applicant is filing BEAR Forms) or for the applicant's share of the cost (if the service provider is filing SPI Forms). In all cases, this date should be the first date of service for that line item. For example:

• An applicant wants to enter three line items on a BEAR Form, one for each month of recurring services in the first quarter of the funding year (i.e., July, August, and September). The applicant should put the date of the customer bill they received from the service provider for July on the first line item, the date of the bill for August on the second line item, and the date of the bill for September on the third line item.

 

And, for you visual learners, here’s where you are in the flowchart process if you’ve received your FCDL with a positive funding commitment from USAC!

 

 

FCC Form 486 Deadline: The FCC Form 486 must be certified no later than 120 days after the service start date shown on the FCC Form 486 or 120 days after the date of the FCDL, whichever date is later.

For most of you who had a SSD (Service Start Date) of July 1, 2023, that means your deadline to file the 486 will be October 29, 2023.

 

Happy filing!

 

Liz Thigpen Schreck | Director

Ocoee River Regional Library

State E-rate Coordinator for Public Libraries

Office of Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett

718 George St., NW, Athens, TN 37303

P. (423) 745-5194 – office;  (423) 649-1583 - direct

Regional Toll Free - (855) 692-8186

Fax (423) 649-1501

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