BEAR Deadline Imminent for A Number of FY 2024 Recurring Service FRNs

October 28, 2025

Attached: BEAR-SPI-Needed-as-of-10-28-2025.xlsx

A final reminder!  There are 23 recurring service funding requests (FRNs) from Funding Year 2024 with invoice deadlines of today, October 28, 2025.  Attached is a list of FY 2024 FRNs for which no BEAR or SPI has been submitted for reimbursement to USAC, including non-recurring FRNs with a later invoice deadline.  FRNs that have an invoice deadline of 10/28/2025 are highlighted in red.  I’ve also included FRNs where it appears a BEAR was submitted and denied or is still pending.  If your school or library’s name is shown in Column A, please review my notes in Column N that explain the next steps.

Where to File BEAR:  The Form 472 BEAR  is located in EPC.  A BEAR Filing Guide is available at:  Form-472-BEAR-Filing-Guide.pdf to help you navigate the fields.  Be sure to select FY 2023 so you are given the FY 2023 FRNs from which to select.

Requesting an Invoice Deadline Extension:  All Invoice Deadline Extension Requests (IDERs) must be submitted by the invoice deadline shown in Column L.  After submitting the IDER, you will automatically be given an extra 120 days to file your reimbursement form.  The IDER module is found in the upper right corner of your EPC landing page under “IDD Extension.”   An IDER Guide is available at:  Guide-to-Requesting-Invoice-Deadline-Extension-1.pdf.

Open Data Invoice Disbursement/Decision Tool:  USAC has a new tool that shows all BEARs and SPIs that have been decided (approved, partially approved, or denied) – but not pending, unfortunately.  If your BEAR or SPI was denied, file for an IDER (see above), then use this tool to filter by your BEN/FY 2023 to see the denial reason.  Then file a new, corrected BEAR or SPI.    E-Rate-Invoice-Disbursements-Data-Lookup-Tool/t3vg-gfse.

If you have any questions about your BEAR, please e-mail me at lgermann@e-ratepa.org.