Have You Established Your EPC Portal Yet?

September 17, 2015

In speaking with several of schools and libraries, it appears that many of you have not yet set up your E-rate EPC Portals. I’m not surprised knowing how busy you all are and because the initial EPC Portal instructions came out in mid-summer! You must have an account established before a FY 2016 Form 470 can be filed — so be sure to set yours up soon. If you have not set up your account yet, please take a few minutes to read this message.

The Account Administrator (AA) must set up the account and identify “users” within the organization. The AA is identified by USAC as the person who signed the FY 2015 Form 471. If you are unsure if you have an EPC Portal set up for your school or library, call USAC’s Client Service Bureau (CSB) at 888-203-8100. They are very knowledgeable and patient!

A) If you would like to identify a new AA for your school or library, simply e-mail CSB with this information (note that since the EPC user account will act as an authorized signature, USAC requires the email address to contain the account administrator’s name. It cannot be a generic email address such as erate@schoolname.org):

Send e-mail to: SLDPR@GDIT.com
Subject: Establishing EPC AA
Body of e-mail: Please establish the EPC Account Administrator for [BILLED ENTITY NUMBER] – [BILLED ENTITY NAME] as indicated below.

Name of Account Administrator: [NAME]
Job Title: [TITLE]
Mailing Address: [ADDRESS], [CITY], [STATE], [ZIP]
Phone Number: [PHONE]
Email Address: [EMAIL]

The account administrator will receive an email invitation from EPC.Application.Administrator@usac.org with the subject “USAC EPC-Account Creation.” Click on the link in the invitation email or navigate to the URL for the EPC Portal at https://portal.usac.org/suite/ and follow the steps below (also see EPC Guide for screenshots!).

B) If you are the AA for your entity and you just wish to set up your account, go directly to https://portal.usac.org/suite/ and follow these steps (see attached EPC Guide for screenshots!):

1) Click “I Agree” on the next screen.
2) The Log-in screen will appear. Enter your e-mail address (Username) and click “Forgot Password”. The Request Password Reset screen will display. Enter the e-mail address again and click Request Password Reset.
3) The system will then send an e-mail with a temporary link to that e-mail address which is only valid for 15 min.
4) Click on the link in the e-mail (within 15 minutes!) and the browser will load the Enter New Password screen.
NOTE: Your password must meet all of the following criteria:
• Is at least eight characters
• Has not been used in the previous four passwords
• Contains at least one character in the English alphabet
• Contains at least one numeral (0 through 9)
• Contains at least one non-alphabetic character (such as !, $, #, %)
• Contains at least one uppercase character (A through Z)
• Contains at least one lowercase character (a through z)
5) The system will confirm that your password has been reset.
6) Go to https://portal.usac.org/suite/ and log-in to the EPC Portal.

Once you’re in the EPC Portal, you can set up additional users, add a consultant, transfer the AA rights to another individual within the school or library, post a Form 470, etc. For detailed instructions on adding additional users or adding consultants, please refer to this listserve message: http://e-ratepa.org/?p=8451.

Although USAC has not yet made a training site available, I am working to set up a webinar that will walk you through the new EPC Portal using a real district’s account. Details coming soon.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about setting up your account, please call USAC’s Client Services Bureau (CSB) at 888-203-8100.

– Julie

Julie Tritt Schell
PA E-rate Coordinator

717-730-7133 – o
717-730-9060 – f
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org

penn*link

Site graciously hosted by the Capital Area IU 15 | Site designed and maintained by Silver Penny Studio