Year 8 Form 471 Filing Window Closes February 18
~ FAQ's and Reminders Listed Below ~
Message Posted February 7, 2005
This is your first reminder that the Year 8 Form 471 Filing Window closes on February 18 -- that's only 9 business days from tomorrow (Tuesday). No, there is no way to request an extension. Please don't wait until the last day of the window to file your application, as traffic is usually extremely heavy, the website is usually slow.
I've received several similar questions over the last 2 weeks and those questions and answers are listed below along with some helpful reminders. Please be sure to read them all.
FAQs
1) What should I do if I put $0 in Item 25D and already submitted my application?
A. If you truly aren't spending any money on computers, printers, professional development, software, and don't have any technology staff, then it's OK to enter $0. For most applicants, this number will not be $0. If you already submitted your application and need to change this number, we believe the SLD is going to permit you to do this on your Receipt Acknowledgement Letter (which haven't been mailed yet). As soon as we receive a firm answer, I'll let you know.
2) Which is better to use: the 471 Interview format or the Create Form 471 format?
Use the Create Form 471 format. I believe the non-interview format is just as easy and doesn't come with the programming bugs that some have experienced.
3) Is it possible to amend a 471 after it's been submitted?
You cannot request additional funding, however you can change most everything else on a 471 after it's been submitted. Simply wait to receive the RAL (Receipt Acknowledgement Letter) and mark what should be corrected to your application, and fax it back to the SLD. The SLD probably won't mail the RALs for several more weeks. If you made major mistakes to your submitted 471, simply complete a new 471 and then cancel the original one when the RAL comes.
4) Can I submit my application online even if I don't have a PIN?
YES! Everyone should submit their 471 online! After you hit submit, the system will ask you if you want to paper certify or eCertify. If you don't have a PIN, then you'll just have to print a copy of the certification page and mail it to the SLD (by February 18).
5) Competitive Bidding
The SLD has been asking more and more applicants to provide all of the bid responses received as a result of your Form 470 competitive bid, as well as your bid evaluation criteria and scores in order to prove that you selected the lowest responsible bidder. Keep in mind that price has to be the most heavily weighted factor, which means that if you have 3 criteria that you judged the proposals on, price has to be at least 34% of the total weight. If you received several proposals from vendors for a particular service,
please be prepared to show to the SLD your bid evaluation worksheet.
6) Contracts
Except for services to be delivered under non-contracted tariff or month-to-month arrangements, applicants must sign a contract with their service providers before they sign and submit the completed Form 471. And beginning this year, the SLD is requiring that all contracts be signed by both the provider and the applicant. Listing a service provider on the Form 471 does NOT create a contract.
If an applicant is purchasing equipment from PEPPM, no additional contract is needed (because the PEPPM contract IS the contract). Refer to the instructions for PEPPM purchases in the listserve post of 1/17/05, or at http://www.peppm.org/pa/erate/Year8/year8Intro.htm. For applicants that listed equipment on their own 470, and are NOT purchasing from PEPPM, you must have a signed contract before the 471 is submitted. Listing a service provider on the Form 471 does NOT create a contract. Keep in mind that the contract should list that the equipment cannot be delivered until after July 1, 2005 and list whether it's contingent upon approval of Year 8 E-rate funding and
your district's 2005-2006 budget. Purchase Orders are OK, as long as they are signed by both the District and the Vendor.
7) Telecom Services must be provided by Telecommunications Providers
If you're requesting discounts in the Telecommunications Services category, your provider MUST be an eligible telecom provider. How do you know if they are? Go to the SLD's BEAR/SPIN search at: http://www.sl.universalservice.org/Forms/SPIN_Contact_Search.asp and enter the provider's SPIN number. If the last column has a Y in it, they're eligible. If there is no Y, then you can't include the request in the telecom category.
8) Be certain that everything you list on your 471 was included on your originating 470.
Meaning, if you listed cellular service on your 471, then be sure it was competitively bid using a Form 470. If you have a multi-year contract for an eligible service, you should list the original 470 that was used to competitively bid that service.
9) Consortia reminder
If you're a consortia leader don't forget that before you hit the submit button, you must have signed Letters of Agency from each of your consortia members stating that you are permitted to file an application on which they are listed as a recipient of service. If you had entities sign a multi-year LOA, that's fine as long as it covered specific funding years and wasn't open-ended. The SLD has just posted a sample LOA on their website at: http://www.sl.universalservice.org/reference/letters.asp.
10) Sign contracts at least 29 days AFTER posting Form 470
If you waited until the last possible day to post a Form 470 for Year 8, remember not to sign or file the associated Form 471 until the 470 has been posted for 28 days. Vendor selection and contracts can not be made, nor can a Form 471 be signed or submitted, before this date. You can, and should, however, start your Form 471 now, and then just fill in the missing information on the 29th day.
11) What must you keep?
The new FCC rules require applicants and service providers to keep a myriad of documents. Here is what is required to be kept relating to competitive bidding, contracts and 471 application process:
Request(s) for Proposal (RFP(s), including evidence of the publication date; bid evaluation criteria and weighting; bid evaluation worksheets; all written correspondence between the beneficiary and prospective bidders regarding the products and service sought; all bids submitted, winning and losing; and documents related to the selection of service provider(s); executed contracts, signed and dated by both parties as well as all amendments and addendums; all documents relied upon to submit the Form 471; including National School Lunch Program eligibility documentation supporting the discount percentage sought; documents to support the necessary resources certification pursuant to section…of the Commission’s rules, including budgets; and documents used to prepare the Item 21 description of services attachment.
12) What must be done by Feb. 18?
The following materials associated with Funding Year 8 Form 471s must be postmarked or submitted online by 11:59 p.m. EST on February 18, 2005 in order for the request to receive consideration as inside the window. These materials are:
* The Form 471 itself (whether electronic or paper)
* The Block 6 certification of the Form 471 with the signature and accurate date of the authorized person (whether electronic or paper)
* The Block 5 certification of any Form 470 cited in a Funding Year 8 Form 471 with the signature and accurate date of the authorized person (whether electronic or paper). Forms 470 with completed certifications submitted in a previous year meet this requirement, as do those filed for Year 8 and submitted to the SLD with a postmark date on or before February 18, 2005. I will be sending out a reminder this week for all Year 8 Form 470's that I can see haven't yet been certified.
Note: Although an authorized signature is still required, an ORIGINAL signature is not. The SLD will now accept stamped signatures, photocopies, black ink, etc. But please make sure not to leave this item and the date blank... some type of signature is required to be there.
13) Item 21 Attachments -- Labeling/Faxing/E-mailing
Item 21 attachments are allowed to be postmarked OUTSIDE the 471 window and may be submitted via e-mail or fax, in addition to the mail. The SLD, however, cannot review your application until they are received, so it is in your best interest to submit them ASAP. Examples of what the SLD requires in terms of Item 21 attachments can be found at: http://www.sl.universalservice.org/reference/Form471item21Attachments.asp.
Instead of mailing your attachments to the SLD along with your certification page, simply fax or e-mail them directly to PIA. It likely will shave 2-3 weeks off their review time waiting for them to be scanned in at the Lawrence, Kansas facility.
Send submissions by e-mail to attachments@sl.universalservice.org. (Do not send submissions other than Form 471 Item 21 Attachments to this e-mail address.) Documents may be sent in most commercially available word processing or spreadsheet formats. Scanned documents may also be sent. (TIF file format is preferred.) Total file size of the e-mail message must be limited to less than 10 Megabytes. If you have more than one Form 471 application, do not combine Item 21 Attachments from multiple Form 471 applications in the same e-mail message.
-- OR --
Send fax submissions to (973) 599-6511. (Do not send submissions other than Form 471 Item 21 Attachments to this fax number.)
14) Proof of Postmark
If you mail your application and/or certification pages, be certain to retain a copy of proof of postmark. IMPORTANT: IF YOU SHIP VIA AN EXPRESS COURIER, THE COURIER'S ACTUAL PICK-UP TIME IS CONSIDERED THE POSTMARK. Each year, there are dozens of applicants that drop their applications off in the nearest express courier box expecting that it will be picked up at the scheduled time -- and it is not. Scheduled time doesn't count and has lost on appeal to the FCC.
My advice is that if you're going to use an express courier, make sure you actually hand it to them and watch them scan it. Don't use a drop off box.
If you have any questions, and you haven't been able to find the answer in the Form 471 instructions at: http://www.sl.universalservice.org/data/pdf/471i_fy05.pdf
please don't hesitate to e-mail me!
Happy Filing!
-- Julie
Julie Tritt Schell
jtschell@comcast.net
(717) 730.7133 (voice)
(717) 730.9060 (fax)
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