Gearing Up for Funding Year 2010 - Is Your Tech Plan Due?
Message Posted September 9, 2009

Although it's hard to believe, Funding Year 2010 is just around the corner. Although most applicants consider the Form 470/competitive bidding requirement the beginning of the E-rate application process, it's actually the second step. The first is having a "written" technology plan. Below are details of the E-rate technology plan requirements... please read carefully!

When must plans be written?
-- E-rate requires that technology plans be "written" before the Form 470 is posted for the upcoming funding year. So if your technology plan expires anytime between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011 (the last day of funding year 2010), you must have your plan written before your Form 470 is filed this fall. Plans are required to be "approved" before July 1 or the Form 486 is filed -- whichever is earlier). The only entities not required to have a technology plan are those applying for BASIC phone service only, which is narrowly defined as wireline or wireless single-line voice service (e.g., local, centrex, cellular, paging and/or long distance). T-1, PRI lines, etc are not considered basic phone service.

What constitutes "written?"
-- The SLD has stated that the plan must at least contain the five required elements (discussed below) and should be far enough along in its development that it can reasonably support your requests for discounted services. This does not mean, however, that the plan must be finalized or submitted for approval by the 470 posting date. At the minimum, if your plan isn't changing much from your previous plan, I encourage you to print your existing plan and mark up changes on it, along with a date showing you made those edits before you submitted your 470. Be sure you have something documenting the "written" status and date which is before you post your Form 470. Auditors require it, and increasingly, the SLD is asking applicants to provide this documentation.

We are a public school entity -- what is the status of our tech plan?
-- A list of tech plan statuses can be obtained by contacting Julie Tritt Schell at jtschell@comcast.net or Joan Adams at jadams@caiu.org. Entities with a '2' under the 'Action Needed' Column must submit their plan to PDE by September 30, 2009. The span of this plan will be July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2013. The submission date is well ahead of the funding year, but it will guarantee that you have met the "written" requirement for E-rate, and also will provide PDE and the Peer Reviewers with ample time to review all plans and return to you if revisions are needed. (Entities with a '1' under the 'Action Needed' Column should contact Joan Adams at jadams@caiu.org immediately.) All public school plans (District, Charter School, IU, & AVTS), must be submitted using the PDE eStrategic Planning Process.

We are a non-public school entity -- what is the status of our tech plan?
-- We do not maintain a listing of the status of non-public school technology plans. Therefore, please refer to your existing tech plan approval letter and/or contact the SLD-certified technology plan approving entity that approved your existing technology plan to determine when your technology plan expires. To find an agency that is authorized to approve your technology plan, go to the SLD's Technology Plan Locator, typically available at: http://www.universalservice.org/sl/tools/search-tools/tech-plan-approver-locator.aspx (please note that this online search tool is currently unavailable during the SLD's IT Upgrade, but will become usable again next week). If, after reviewing the tech plan locator, you cannot find an entity to approve your plan, please contact Joan Adams at jadams@caiu.org and she will be able to assist you.

What are the 5 required elements of a technology plan?
-- Although Certified Tech Plan Approvers may establish additional criteria, the FCC has stipulated the following five elements must be contained in an entity's technology plan:

• Clear goals and a realistic strategy for using telecommunications and information technology to improve education or library services;
• Professional development strategy to ensure that staff know how to use these new technologies to improve education or library services;
• Assessment of the telecommunication services, hardware, software, and other services that will be needed to improve education or library services;
• Sufficient budget to acquire and support the non-discounted elements of the plan: the hardware, software, professional development and other services that will be needed to implement the strategy; and
• Evaluation process that enables the school or library to monitor progress toward the specified goals and make mid-course corrections in response to new developments and opportunities and they arise.

What is the maximum length that my tech plan can cover?
-- Approved technology plans should cover a period of not more than three years.

Are We Required to Have Amendments to Our Tech Plan Approved?
-- Yes.

What is the penalty for not having a written or approved technology plan?
-- FCC rules require technology plans be written before the Form 470 is filed, and approved before the funding year begins (or the 486 is filed -- whichever is earlier). If a school or library is found to be out of compliance with these rules, the SLD is required by the FCC to recover funding.

Need additional training? Register for E-rate Beginners Training at: http://www.e-ratepa.org/training_outreach.htm.

If you have questions about the E-rate tech plan requirement, please contact me at jtschell@comcast.net.

-- Julie