FY 2011, Wave 1 Funding Letters to be Mailed Next Week
Message Posted June 16, 2011
The SLD has just announced that the first wave of funding commitment decision letters (FCDLs) for FY 2011 will be issued next week and 817 Pennsylvania applicants are included! Why is Wave 1 so late this year? The FCC didn't approve the PIA procedures until last week and funding waves cannot begin until this approval is issued.
After the Wave 1 recipients have been announced, it's important that the Form 486 be filed ASAP and that applicants notify their vendors to let them know they want their bills to be discounted. I will post in a separate message a list of the largest vendors in PA and the procedure to request discounted bills from each company.
If you are not included in Wave 1, do not worry. There will be 50+ funding waves and your commitment will be forthcoming. Please see the Wave FAQs below for more information.
In the meantime, if you're interested in knowing where your 471 currently stands, you can find out on the SLD’s website – http://www.sl.universalservice.org/menu.asp – under the 471 column “Application Status.” The tool gives you the status of all 471s associated with your entity, so be sure to have your entity's entity number handy when you use the tool. After you enter your entity number, it will give you a generic page, click Continue at the bottom. The next page will show a box at the top of the page which contains the status of each Form 471. Below that information will be a list of all possible status remarks that could have been used, and a brief description of what each means. Don't be confused into thinking that the list of descriptions is your status; your status will be in the right column of the box at the top of that page.
Canceled
Incomplete
Complete
Certified - In Window
Certified - Out of Window
Initial Review
Available for Final Review
Final Review
Available for Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance 1
Quality Assurance 2
Unable to Contact
Held for further review and other verification
Awaiting Applicant Documentation
Deferred
FCDL Issued - 'xx/xx/xxxx'
Bottom of Form
FAQ's on Waves
* This wave only contains funding for priority one services -- telecommunications services and Internet access. There is sufficient funding for all approved Priority 1 requests, however, given total demand of more than $4.3 billion with funds available of $2.27 billion, it is too early to determine how much funding will be available for internal connections.
* If you disagree with a funding commitment decision, an appeal letter MUST be received at the SLD within 60 days of the date that is on the decision letter (not the letter's postmark date).
1. How will I be notified of my E-rate Funding Commitment?
The SLD will be sending out Funding Commitment Decision Letters to inform applicants of their E-rate discounts. These letters will be mailed in waves, rather than waiting for all applications to be fully processed before issuing any letters. Only those applicants who submitted complete requests within the "application window" will be receiving Funding Commitment Decision letters.
2. When will the first wave of letters be sent and how frequently will the waves of letters be sent?
A wave of letters will be mailed every week. As each wave is sent, the SLD will announce its size and post state-by-state information on their Web Site.
3. How will I know which wave my letter is in?
There is no definitive way to know in advance which wave a particular Funding Commitment Decision Letter might be in. The SLD will post information about each wave on their public Web Site the first business day after it has been mailed.
4. Will I receive only one Funding Commitment Decision Letter?
No, not necessarily. The SLD will issue Funding Commitment Decision Letters according to the FCC's rules of priority (See questions 5 -6 for details) when answers are known about any of the requests made in your application(s). If you submitted multiple Form 471 applications for services, you will receive more than one Funding Commitment Decision Letter.
5. How is each wave formed?
There are three factors that determine how each wave is formed:
a) The FCC Rules of Priority: There are two rules of priority.
"Priority One" requests are for discounts on telecommunications services and Internet access and "Priority Two" requests are for discounts on internal connections. If "Priority One" services can be fully funded, discount requests for internal connections, or "Priority Two" services, are funded beginning with the highest need at the 90% discount level.
b) Successful Data Entry: The date when the application was successfully entered into the SLD database will also determine when a Funding Commitment Decision Letter may be sent.
c) Complete Processing: Before a funding commitment can be made, the SLD must complete processing of your application, including the Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) review process. The SLD has set aside funds to cover all telecommunications and Internet access requests received inside the filing window. They will consider priority two" requests - Internal connections requests - if there are remaining funds available.
6. If funds are available for internal connections requests below the 90% discount level, how will SLD make these funding decisions?
Consistent with FCC rules, the SLD will consider Internal Connections requests below the 90% discount level, by discount level - 89%, 88%, 87%, etc.
Julie Tritt Schell
PA E-rate Coordinator
717-730-7133 - o
717-730-9060 - f
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org
Penn*link
|
Back to 2011 Archives Main