FY 2026 Form 471 Filing Window Dates Announced: Corrected Version
December 19, 2025
Attached: E-Rate-Timeline-FY-2026-1.pdf
Form 471 Window: January 21, 2026 – April 1, 2026
Last Date to Update EPC Profiles: Friday, January 16, 2026
Form 470 Deadline: March 4, 2026
Hello E-Rate Community,
We have the dates! USAC has just announced that the FY 2026 Form 471 Application Window dates will be January 21 – April 1,
with January 16
as the last day you can update EPC profiles within the Admin Window. Attached is a graphic to help you keep track of the FY 2026 milestone dates, and here’s what you should be doing and by when:
Updating EPC Profiles – The period before the Form 471 window opens, when schools and libraries are required to update their enrollment and NSLP (or CEP%) data each year to recalculate their E-Rate discounts and make sure their EPC profiles are up to date, is called the Admin Window. The Admin Window deadline for FY 2026 is Friday, January 16. For information on updating this data, please see the “Guide to Entering Enrollment-NSLP in EPC”
Updating Category 2 Enrollment/Square Footage: C2 budgets are calculated based on the C2 multiplier ($201.57/student for schools and $5.43/sq ft for libraries – or a minimum of $30,175/building) and the Category 2 enrollment or library square footage from the first year that you receive Category 2 funding in the new FY2026 – FY2030 C2 cycle. If you’re applying for C2 in FY 2026, the school enrollment figure used for C2 budgets must be the same as the enrollment used for discount calculations. Be sure to update the data no later than Friday, January 16.
Category 2 Budgets – To see your new C2 budget for FY 2026, after you’ve updated the C2 enrollment/square footage, use USAC’s C2 Budget Data Tool at: E-Rate-C2-Budget-Tool-FY2021+. Simply enter your entity’s name in the filter on the right side of the page.
Form 470s – If you haven’t yet posted your Form 470 for services that must be competitively bid for FY 2026, you still have a few weeks to do so. Although the Form 471 deadline is April 1st, and therefore the last possible date to file the Form 470 is technically March 4, applicants – especially public schools — should have your 470s released ASAP (no later than the first week in January if possible) so you can take the contracts to your February board meeting(s) for approval. Do not wait until February to begin your competitive bidding process!
PEPPM Mini-Bids – If you intend to use the PEPPM Mini-bid system as the procurement vehicle for your FY 2026 Category 2 equipment purchases, YOU CANNOT RELEASE A PEPPM MINI-BID TO VENDORS UNTIL AT LEAST JANUARY 2, 2026. The reason is that the current PEPPM contract expires at the end of 2025, and the next contract will not become available for use until January 2, 2026. Thus, no mini-bids can be issued to (what will be) the newly awarded vendors until at least that date. In the meantime, please begin preparing your equipment lists so you can hit the ground running in January.
Form 471s – Although the Form 471 deadline is April 1, I encourage everyone to file as early as possible in the Form 471 window. For contracts that have already been signed, MTM services where vendors have been selected, or multi-year contracts signed in previous years, filing when the window opens is a great way to ensure you’ll be in the first group of applications reviewed.
Eligible Services List Adopted – The FCC has approved the FY 2026 ESL and adopted the change to include software-based services, including bug fixes, security patches, software-based technical assistance, and configuration changes, under the Internal Connections equipment they support, rather than as basic maintenance! This includes multi-year license renewals that often include support and were previously funded under BMIC. This change is a tremendous help for E-Rate applicants, bringing greater clarity to one of the areas of the program most prone to errors: software and remote services. By consolidating these services under Internal Connections, the FCC has reduced the risk of misclassification and the loss of funds!
- Please note that Fixed maintenance contracts (on-site configuration changes and time and materials) will continue to be eligible for funding under BMIC, but only for the work that is actually performed under the contract
If you have any questions about the window filing dates or the Admin Window, please let me know.
And finally, from my family to yours, we wish you a wonderful holiday season!
Sincerely,
Lorrie
Lorrie Germann
Pennsylvania E-Rate Coordinator
717-576-2737 – o
lgermann@e-ratepa.org
www.e-ratepa.org