2 Requirements for Consortia and Members
Message Posted November 12, 2002
(and other entities that have a non-district/library employee signing their
forms)
In Pennsylvania, many schools and libraries are members of consortia,
whether they be through their Intermediate Units or Library Systems. This
message is a friendly reminder that there are 2 extra E-rate requirements
that must be followed for such entities (LOAs and 479s).
LETTERS OF AGENCY
The person who signs the Form 471 is certifying that he or she is authorized
to submit the form on behalf of the entities listed in the application. In
order to prove to the SLD that this person actually is authorized by each of
these entities, the entities must complete what's known as a Letter of
Agency (LOA). An LOA is most commonly signed by consortium members and kept
on file by their consortium leader to verify their knowledge of their
membership and participation in the consortium. Other vehicles to establish
this authorization could be a project agreement, a contract, a letter
agreement, or other similar document.
A consultant — or anyone signing as the authorized person who is not a
school or library employee — should also have an LOA from the applicant
expressly authorizing the consultant to represent the applicant. If the
consultant is merely the contact person on the form and isn't signing the
form, then an LOA is not required.
NOTE: The LOA must be signed and submitted to the lead consortia member
prior to the filing of the form. And the SLD has been known to ask the
consortium lead to provide these LOAs during the 471 review.
Whatever the form of the document establishing the above authorization, it
must contain all of the following:
* The name of the person filing the application (the consortium leader or
consultant);
* The name of the person authorizing the filing of the application (the
entity who will receive discounted services, such as a consortium member);
* The specific timeframe the LOA or authorizing document covers (for
example, the E-rate Funding Year 2003);
* The signature and title of an official who is an employee of the entity
who is authorizing the filing of the application (the entity who will
receive discounted services, such as a consortium member); and
* The type of services covered by the LOA or authorizing document (such as
"Internet services" or "networking equipment").
NOTE: The timeframes of these authorizations cannot be open-ended, such as
"until terminated by either party."
FORM 479
If the consortia lead is the billed entity for the consortia, and the
consortia if applying for discounts on anything other than
telecommunications services, the lead must certify on a Form 486 that all
members of the consortia are CIPA compliant. In order for the lead member
to know if the members are compliant, each consortia member must submit to
the lead consortia member a completed Form 479. The lead member then
retains the Forms 479 for audit purposes, and submits ONLY the completed
Form 486 to the SLD.
Again, the 479 must be submitted to the consortia lead member before the
relevant form is submitted, in this case, the 486.
Julie Tritt Schell
jtschell@comcast.net
(717) 730.7133 (voice)
(717) 730.9060 (fax)
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