The Universal Service Administrative Company this week reported to the Federal Communications Commission that it had a total of $365 million in undisbursed E-rate funding available for roll-over for future funding years, including $150 million from the 2003 funding year.
In the coming weeks, the FCC will advise the SLD on the level of funding commitments it can approve for the 2005 funding year, which starts July 1.
In USAC’s quarterly report, it noted that it still had more than $877 million worth of potential disbursements for 2003, presumably because of funding commitments for non-recurring services that were not approved until on or after March 1, 2004.
For the first three months of 2005, USAC said it had disbursed only $321.4 million in schools and libraries support, which would translate to an annual pace of only $1.285 billion. In recent months, service providers have complained about the pace of invoice approvals, which USAC staff say they now have taken steps to address.
USAC also reported that as of March 31, 257 applications for the 2003 funding year remained under review, and "about 2,300" for 2004. In addition, it said it continued to review and process 63 "potentially fundable" applications for 2002, including 25 applications that were refiled as a result of the FCC’s Ysleta order, which gave certain applicants the opportunity to resubmit their requests for that year. Since the end of March, the SLD has issued waves in which applications for 2002 from three beneficiaries were approved, but applications for 10 beneficiaries were rejected.
