On August 28, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission released an Order granting several requests for review and waivers related to the E-rate program’s document retention requirement. In some cases, it was determined that although specific documents were missing, overall compliance with E-rate rules could “be verified in other ways” through “contemporaneous documentation.” In another case, the FCC found that failure to produce a document after the “document retention rules in effect at [the] time…was not a sufficient basis for a commitment adjustment.”
One request for review was denied due to difference in interpretation of the start of the document retention period, with the Commission clarifying that the retention requirement “begins after the last day of the funding year in which the services could be provided.”
