FCC Grants ECF Invoice Deadline Extensions

August 15, 2023

Attached: PA ECF FRNs Invoice Deadlines as of Aug 15 2023

Due to summer vacations and the start of the school year, the FCC has extended the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) reimbursement filing deadline from August 29, 2023 to October 30, 2023 for any funding requests that have a current invoice deadline occurring before October 30, 2023.  Generally speaking, this means that applicants/service providers with ECF Windows 1 and 2 FRNs (FY 2021) now have an additional 2 months to submit their BEARs or SPIs.

To help you keep track of your deadlines and reimbursement status, attached is a list of all ECF FRNs (including Windows 1, 2 and 3 and fully disbursed funding requests) showing their disbursement amounts to date and new invoice deadlines.

Notes:

• The FCC’s Order does not extend service delivery deadlines or impact ECF Window 3 (FY 2022) reimbursement deadlines that generally will be next August.
• Unlike E-rate, ECF program rules do not permit applicants or service providers to request further reimbursement deadline extensions from USAC.  Should an ECF program participant require additional time beyond the new reimbursement deadline, they must file a request for waiver directly with the FCC and demonstrate good cause of why they could not meet the reimbursement deadline.  The FCC has stated previously that they do not expect to grant waivers of the invoice deadline unless extraordinary circumstances exist.
• If your invoicing mode is marked to SPI on the attached spreadsheet but you realized you paid in full for the equipment or services, you must submit a post-commitment request in the ECF portal to change the billing method from SPI to BEAR so you can submit your BEAR by the deadline.
• Please don’t wait until the new deadline to submit your BEARs!  Because it can sometimes take several months to have invoices processed due to the unique requirement to have an updated sam.gov account containing EIN data that matches your Form 498 data, it’s important that you submit your invoices as early as possible.
• Don’t forget to submit proof of delivery and vendor invoices when submitting your BEAR.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me!

– Julie

Julie Tritt Schell
Pennsylvania E-rate Coordinator
717-730-7133 – o
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org