USAC’s Schools and Libraries Division hosts monthly conference calls, providing information and guidance for service providers participating in E-rate. Funds For Learning has provided the following synopsis of the call.
Note: The below information is not the official minutes from the call, but simply notes from Funds For Learning.
The SLD has released several funding waves from FY 2004-2011 in the month of October. Further funding wave analysis can be viewed on Funds For Learning’s website here. The SLD announced that they have stopped issuing regular waves for FY 2009 and that applicants should have received notification for the delay and an update on the status of their applications.
Electronic Notification Change – USAC made some changes to their IT systems. These changes created an unintended consequence that if a service provider has updated their Form 498 in the last two weeks or plans to update their Form 498 with new corporate contact information, the person identified to receive electronic notifications will automatically change to the Form 498 contact.
Invoicing Update – In the last month, the SLD reimbursed 2,024 service providers totaling $314 million. This was against $372 million worth of total requests with the SLD reporting that 98% of the invoices were processed within 30 days.
FY 2012 Form 471 Filing Window Dates – The SLD will announce the FY 2012 filing dates within the next few weeks. The USAC Schools and Libraries Committee approved opening the window no earlier than January 5 and will be open approximately 70 days.
Internet 2 – There have been inconsistencies to the way PIA has treated applications with Internet2 services and the SLD will make sure that PIA treats Internet2 applications consistently going forward.
Tracking Your E-rate Business – There were questions from service providers on what SLD tools are available for them to track their funding commitments. The SLD has a Data Retrieval Tool that provides some information regarding FRNs, commitments and disbursements. Funds For Learning has created a tool called E-rate Manager that makes it easy to track your E-rate business.
