September 2014 E-rate Update
September 5, 2014
Happy Back-To-School, E-raters!
I wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with an E-rate update on several pending issues:
E-rate Beginners Training in PA – On Monday I will be announcing the dates and locations of the fall E-rate trainings in PA. Please be sure to register for one of these all-new training sessions that will cover the entire application process and all of the new changes to E-rate for FY 2015. Seats are expected to fill up quickly, so please register early.
E-rate 2.0 Training – Over the last several weeks, several webinars have been held to provide technology directors, business managers, school board members, IUs, service providers and libraries with all of the changes that are coming to the E-rate program. If you missed one of these webinars, the online archives of several sessions can be found at: https://e-ratepa.org/?page_id=745.
FY 2015 Form 470 NOT YET Available – The FCC is revising the Form 470 to reflect some of the E-rate 2.0 changes and I expect that the new version won’t be available until October. However, if you are seeking contracted services and would like to post a 470 now, you can use the existing Form 470 that’s online and just mention in Item 13 that this is for FY 2015 services. You may NOT use the existing 470 if the services are just being procured on a month-to-month basis. For MTM services, you will have to wait until the FY 2015 is available.
FY 2013 and FY 2012 BEAR Deadline: October 28, 2014 – For those applicants that did NOT receive discounted bills during FY 2013, the official deadline to submit the Form 472 BEAR to collect reimbursement funding is October 28, 2014. Unlike other years when USAC was flexible with this deadline, the rules have changed. All BEARs must be submitted by the deadline and late-filed BEARs will be denied. Invoice (BEAR) deadline extensions will be granted for a single 120 day period IF the requests are submitted before the October 28 deadline. After that, you must submit a waiver request with the FCC and have a truly significant reason for missing the deadline. For a list of applicants that need to submit BEARs, see https://e-ratepa.org/?p=2141.
FY 2014 Form 486s – If you HAVE been funded for FY 2014, please don’t forget to file your Form 486 to ‘turn-on’ funding with USAC. I will send a list of applicants with 486 due dates in early October. If you have NOT yet been funded for FY 2014, you can’t file the Form 486 until you receive your FCDL.
If you have any questions about any of these issues, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jtschell@comcast.net.
— Julie
Julie Tritt Schell
PA E-rate Coordinator
717-730-7133 – o
717-730-9060 – f
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org
penn*link