A few of your E-rate Guides attended USAC’s first in-person training of the year in Phoenix this week. Here’s what USAC shared, including four things you can do now to speed up your next Form 471 review.
The training was held at the Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Phoneix, Arizona.
The audience included a mix of applicants, service providers, and consultants. USAC’s team presented on program updates, competitive bidding, planning for the filing window, invoicing best practices, navigating USAC’s website, and online training resources.
Program Integrity Was a Recurring Theme
Program integrity and fraud prevention was one of the clearest themes of the event. USAC talked about its own role, and every participant’s role, in protecting the program against waste, fraud, and abuse. The USAC team highlighted its Program Integrity website and discussed the importance of open and fair competitive bidding, strong documentation retention practices, and understanding audit requirements.
Program Updates and the FY2028 Bidding Portal
USAC also discussed recent program updates issued by the FCC this spring. USAC couldn’t share details about the anticipated competitive bidding portal for Funding Year 2028, but its team is actively gathering feedback on complicated bidding practices and working to better understand state and local competitive bidding requirements.
USAC will also be providing guidance soon on how to address transitioning services on Funding Year 2027 FCC Form 471 applications.
What Applicants Asked About
USAC’s team spent a generous amount of time answering audience questions. Questions clustered around the new Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and SAM.gov requirements, the bidding portal, competitive bidding in general, and working through Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) review.
Participants raised concerns about how long PIA reviews and Funding Commitment Decision Letters are taking. USAC encouraged applicants to submit complete documentation upfront and to ask for help when they get stuck.
Four Things You Can Do Now
Here’s the takeaway you can act on today: start planning now for the next filing window. USAC explained that planning ahead and documenting your process as you go helps their reviewers move your application faster. Their tips:
- Make sure all your entity information is correct in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) before the Administrative Window closes. This period begins on October 21 and is when you can update entity data ahead of the FCC Form 471 filing window.
- Review and understand the classification of services on the FCC Forms 470 and 471. If you have a question about the definition of a service, contact USAC’s customer service.
- Upload contracts when creating a contract record in EPC.
- Capture documentation as you move through your process so that it is readily available when USAC’s reviewers ask for it.
It was encouraging to see applicants and providers continue to engage in conversation with USAC about how to improve processes all so that the students we all serve continue to get the access to internet they need.
Helping applicants work to maintain compliance is what our Guides do daily. Request a consultation today to learn more of how we do this.
About the Author: Cathy Benham brings 20 years of E-Rate experience to the GuideTeams. Based in Southern California; outside of work, she and her husband love catching live music whenever they can, and as an avid international soccer fan, she considers the World Cup pure heaven.
