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File 471s Early for Early Review by SLD
Message Posted December 16, 2003
If you haven't done so already, you'll want to post your E-rate Form 470 by the end of this week. Although the official deadline is January 7 (29 days before the 471 window closes on Feb. 4), you don't want to wait this long to file, as it will only give you one day to open bids, evaluate proposals, sign contracts, and file your 471 inside the window. If you post your 470
now, you will have 2 weeks to complete all of these tasks (a much more realistic timeline).
For those of you who posted your 470's and your Allowable Contract Date (29th day after the 470 was posted) has passed, you'll want to file your 471 early this year. Why? Although the SLD hasn't published this as a formal policy, they have stated that applications submitted well before the deadline will be reviewed and if any flaws are found, they will call applicants so another application can be submitted within the window. This is quite extraordinary and I encourage all PA applicants that can file early to so.
For those of you purchasing from PEPPM, details on PEPPM purchases for E-rate will be coming by the end of the week. Other helpful hints and reminders are listed below. If you have any
questions, please contact me at jtschell@comcast.net. And don't forget to file those last minute 470's before you leave for the holidays!
470 Reminders
* If you will be signing a multi-year contract, or know of a possibility of signing a multi-year contract, you need to list either the length of the contract or the possibility of a multi-year contract in Item 13 on 470.
* You must keep all winning and losing proposals for 5 years.
* You also must keep track of the evaluation process you used to select the winning proposal. Don't forget... you may have as many criteria as you like, but price (alone) must be the heaviest weighted factor. For example, if you have 4 criteria that you are using to judge proposals, price must be at least 26% of the weight, will all others being 25% or less.
* Be specific on your 470. Don't forget that firewall services, web hosting, and voice mail all are now eligible services, and should be listed on your 470 if you would like discounts on these services.
* If you want cellular service with the walkie talkie feature, be sure to list "cell service with direct connect feature" -- don't list "walkie talkie."
* Don't forget that all district or library employees' cellular service is eligible for discounts for Year 7. Therefore if your 470 for last year only contained the number of eligible lines, you'll want to make sure that you include the total number of current and future cellular lines on your 470 Description of Services.
* Instead of using the print preview feature, after you've submitted your 470, go back to the "apply online" page and choose the "search posted" option. Then type in your 470 number and print off a complete, clean copy of your application. The same advice applies to the 471. After you've hit submit, go back to the "apply online" page. Then under the 471 column, choose "display" and type in your 471 application number.
471 Reminders
* Be sure to separate your priority 1 and priority 2 requests. The SLD mails funding letters based on 471s, and if you have a priority 2 request included on the same 471 as your priority 1 requests, the SLD cannot commit any funding until they know whether they can fund ALL of the requests on the 471.
* Beginning with Year 7, applicants may choose to have discounted bills or to seek reimbursement from the fund. You'll want to indicate your preference to your service provider(s) during the vendor selection process.
Julie Tritt Schell
jtschell@comcast.net
(717) 730.7133 (voice)
(717) 730.9060 (fax)
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