143 Districts Haven’t Filed FY 2015 Form 470s!

January 20, 2015

~ Entities Listed Below ~

There are 143 school districts listed below that have not yet filed a Category 1 (telecom and Internet) Form 470 for FY 2015 (lots more than last year).  If your district’s name is on this list, it means that no Form 470 has been posted yet and (based on your FY 2014 Form 471 filing) your district has at least one service that is either MTM or is under a contract that expires June 30, 2015.   Therefore, if your district’s name is on the list, you must file a Form 470 ASAP!   If you don’t believe you should be on this list, please let me know.  To post a Form 470, go to: http://www.sl.universalservice.org/menu.asp and click on ‘Create Form 470.’   At the bottom of this message are some helpful reminders and answers to the most common questions I’ve been receiving.

One quick note:  There are 34 districts out of the 143 that only have a single funding request that should be filed on a 470 and most of these are for cellular service.  Don’t forget, cellular VOICE service remains eligible for FY 2015 (at a reduced discount rate); cellular DATA (include aircards, ipad service and cellular data plans) are not eligible.  If you have bundled cellular voice/data plans, you will just have to cost allocate out the ineligible portion for the data plan so you are just applying for E-rate discounts on the eligible service.  If you’ve decided to opt out of applying for cellular service because of the added work involved, and/or the reduced discount rate, please let me know so I can note that in your file and remove you from this list.

1)  List Disqualification Reasons in Item 13.  If you want to disqualify vendors, you must list those disqualification reasons in Item 13 of your Form 470 (or in your RFP).

2)  File online, even if you don’t have a PIN. If you haven’t received a PIN, file online, and then mail in your signature/certification page after you hit submit. The SLD will then mail you a PIN in a few weeks. There is no way to request a PIN unless you have first signed a paper certification.

3)  Include all of your services on a single 470. There is no maximum number of 470’s that you may submit, although it is a good idea to place all of your services on a single Form 470 because then you only have a single 470 number to keep track of for this year.  However, there is no harm in filing two or more 470’s. Also, there is no way to amend a 470 after it’s been submitted. If you need to change your services, you need to file a new Form 470 (in which case your 28-day clock restarts).

4) Instead of using the print preview feature, after you’ve submitted your Form 470, go back to the “apply online” page and choose the “search posted” option. Then type-in your 470 number and print off a complete, clean copy of your application. At the top of the completed form it also will show you your allowable contract date (ACD), which is the first date you can sign contracts and file your 471.

5)  Rebidding contracts and MTM services.  Unless you are under a multi-year contract (that was originally competitively bid using a Form 470) that expires on or after June 30, 2016, YOU MUST POST A FORM 470 FOR EVERY SERVICE FOR WHICH YOU ARE SEEKING E-RATE DISCOUNTS.

6)  Form 470’s for multi-year contracts:  If you posted a Form 470 in a previous year, and then signed a multi-year contract that expires on or after June 30, 2016, you are not required to file a Category 1 Form 470 for FY 2015 (you still must list the service on the Form 471).  If you wish to exercise a voluntary extension of a contract without posting a 470, you may only do so if your contract contains the terms of the voluntary extensions (meaning the exact number of years or dates that the extensions can be exercised and it’s not just open-ended).  Otherwise, you must post a Form 470 to extend the contract.

As always, if you have any E-rate questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jtschell@comcast.net.

Districts That Have Not Filed C1 Form 470s for FY 2015:

— Julie

Julie Tritt Schell

PA E-rate Coordinator

717-730-7133 – o
717-730-9060 – f
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org

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