FY 2022 Form 471 Filing Window Dates Announced
December 21, 2021
Attached: E-rate Timeline FY 2022
Attached: Updating C2 Budgets and Enrollment-NSLP in EPC FY 2022
Form 471 Window: January 12 – March 22
Admin Window: Now – January 10
Eligible Services List Adopted
We have the dates! USAC has just announced the FY 2022 Form 471 application window dates (January 12 – March 22) and thus, your E-rate timetable can be set. Attached is a graphic to help you keep track of the FY 2022 milestone dates. Here’s what you should be doing and by when:
Updating EPC Profiles - The period before the Form 471 window opens when schools and libraries make sure their EPC profiles are up to date is called the Admin Window. The Admin Window deadline for FY 2022 is January 10. Applicants generally are required to update their enrollment and NSLP (or CEP%) each year. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that nearly all public schools are not operating the NSLP program this year (using SSO instead), USAC has announced that schools will be permitted to use enrollment and NSLP eligibility data from previously approved Funding Year (FY) 2020 or 2021 applications (that utilized data from fall 2019 and fall 2020) for the purpose of their FY 2022 applications. This means that school applicants are not required to update their school profile information for FY 2022, but they may do so with current data if they so choose. Please see: http://e-ratepa.org/?p=33868 for complete information about whether to update your data this year or not.
Updating Category 2 Enrollment Data – Applicants are permitted to use the same enrollment (schools) or square footage (libraries) data for the entire 5-year C2 budget cycle, or if enrollment (or square footage for libraries) increases, they may update their data and request a Category 2 Replacement Budget (C2RB) with USAC (a newly announced process) to obtain a higher Category 2 budget. See attached Guide related to updating EPC profiles and requesting a C2 Replacement Budget for FY 2022.
Form 470s – If you haven’t yet posted your Form 470 for services that must be competitively bid for FY 2022, you still have a few weeks to do so. Although the Form 471 deadline is March 22, and therefore the last possible date to file the Form 470 is technically February 22, applicants – especially public schools — should have your 470’s released ASAP (no later than the first week in January) so you can take the contracts to your February board meeting(s) for approval. Do not wait until February to begin your competitive bidding process!
Form 471s – Although the Form 471 deadline is March 22, I encourage everyone to file as early as possible in the Form 471 window. For contracts that have already been signed, MTM services where vendors have been selected, or multi-year contracts signed in previous years, filing when the window opens is a great idea to be at the top of the list when they review applications. The earlier your Form 471 is submitted, the better chance you’ll have of receiving an early funding commitment letter.
Eligible Services List Adopted – The FCC has approved the FY 2022 ESL with no significant changes, as expected. Several stakeholders urged the FCC to allow E-rate funding to cover Wi-Fi on buses, and the FCC declined, but did include this mention: “We plan to leverage our experience funding Wi-Fi hotspots on buses and bookmobiles through the Emergency Connectivity Fund to more fully explore how such equipment and services could be eligible for E-Rate support in the future.”
If you have any questions about the window filing dates or the Admin Window, please let me know.
And finally, to my big, wonderful, dedicated E-rate family, I want to take this opportunity to again thank you for everything you do and particularly for what you’ve done the last two years for our kids and communities. Where would we be without you?! I hope that you and your family have been able to remain healthy, and continue to do so in 2022. From my family to yours, we wish you the loveliest of holidays!
Your friend,
– Julie
Julie Tritt Schell
Pennsylvania E-rate Coordinator
717-730-7133 – o
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org