File Now for E-rate Year 6 (2003-2004) Reimbursements
Message Posted July 8, 2004
The Year 6 Funding Year ended on June 30 for recurring services and so now
is the time to submit the Form 472 -- BEAR -- to the SLD for services in
which you paid 100% of the bill and are due reimbursement of your E-rate
funding. The official deadline is October 28, but you don't want to wait
until then because it will take 4+ months to receive reimbursement due to
the rush of BEARs submitted at that time. Now is the very best time to
submit the form. I'll send a list in early October of the applicants that
still having funding remaining to be collected, so file now and avoid the
list! Each year, many applicants are committed funding, but then never go
back to seek reimbursement. Don't let them keep your well-deserved money.
A few important reminders:
1) The SLD has increased scrutiny of the BEARs to make sure that
reimbursement requests are for exactly what services were approved for on
the FCDLs and Item 21 attachments. If you changed services during the
2003-2004 funding year from what you originally listed on your Item 21
attachments, you should first seek a "correcting service substitution
request" from the SLD. The instructions for submitting a service
substitution can be found at:
http://www.sl.universalservice.org/reference/ServiceSub.asp
2) Applicants should only seek reimbursement for the exact amount paid for
the service instead of just listing the full funding cap (for example, if
you were committed $10,000, but then only spent $6,000, you can't invoice
the SLD for the full amount -- only the amount you spent). Please know that
the SLD has increasingly been requesting copies of invoices when they review
the BEARs, as proof that you are requesting the accurate amount. Don't send
the invoices with the BEAR, but know it might be requested.
3) How should you complete the BEAR if you spent more than your funding
cap? The SLD would like you to complete the BEAR with the actual figures of
what you spent for the service, and not just list your cap. For example, if
you spent $10,000, and had a 50% discount, you would list $10,000 in Column
14 and $5,000 in Column 15, even if you were only committed $4,000. The
reason is that the SLD would like to show how much applicants are actually
spending on services and also so they know that you are not just listing
the funding commitment amount, but have actually added up how much was
actually spent in each of the 12 months. Unfortunately, they will only
reimburse you up to the amount that you were committed.
4) The BEAR Form -- 472 -- cannot be submitted electronically to the SLD;
however, you can complete it online using the .pdf format, print it, and
then mail it to the SLD (after getting the service provider to sign, of
course).
5) Don't forget that you need the service provider's signature on the Form
before you submit it to the SLD. To find the fax number of your service
provider, use the SLD's SPIN search database
(http://www.sl.universalservice.org/Forms/SPIN_Contact_Search.asp) and call
the number listed. The only exception is AT&T Long Distance which has
conveniently provided a completed BEAR on their website
(http://www.att.com/erate/) for you to print and attach to your BEAR. AT&T
does not want you to fax a copy of your BEAR to them. Be sure to fill in
the date on the AT&T pre-signed page.
6) Make sure the service provider signs the last page -- the Service
Provider Certification Page, and not the Application Certification Page
which looks very similar. Also make certain that the provider includes the
date beside their signature; dates are considered a minimum processing
standard.
7) For non-recurring services (mostly priority 2), the deadline to submit
the BEAR is 120 days after the last date to receive service (October 28),
making the deadline January 28, 2005. (The exception to this is if you
received your funding commitment letter on or after March 1, 2004... in
which case you have an extra year to receive the service/equipment.) Again,
if you have received the equipment, file your Form 486, and then promptly
file your BEAR to seek reimbursement if your invoice was not discounted by
the service provider. Don't wait until January 2005 to seek reimbursement.
8) After the SLD has reviewed and approved your BEAR, they will mail to you
a BEAR Approval Letter, listing the amount of your check. Your check is
mailed to your service provider 20 calendar days after the mailing of the
approval letter. Service providers are required to mail you a check for the
same amount within 20 calendar days of receiving the check from the SLD.
If you have any questions about the Year 6 Invoice Deadlines, please contact
me at jtschell@comcast.net.
-- Julie
jtschell@comcast.net
(717) 730.7133 (voice)
(717) 730.9060 (fax)
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