Revised E-rate Form 486 and New Form 500 Available
Message Posted June 13, 2000
* 486 must be used for Year 3 - can be filed now if you've received your funding letter*
* File 500 now to receive 3-month extension on non-recurring services*
A few weeks ago I sent a notice that the new Forms 486 and 500 had been approved and were going to be posted to the SLD web site within days. Well, they are being mailed separately to all Year 3 applicants. I have received numerous questions regarding these new forms, and so I've written a basic Q & A that may help dispose of some of the confusion.
1. If I have an old copy of the 486, can I still use it?
No, everyone must now use the new 486.
2. If I filed an old 486 for Year 2 services within the last 2 weeks, will the SLD send it back?
The SLD has said that they will accept what they have received so far for Year 2 services. But from this week on, they only will accept the new 486's.
3. If I filed an old 486 for Year 3 services, will the SLD send it back?
Yes. No old 486s should have been submitted for Year 3 services, and if they were, the SLD will be sending them back with a note asking you to complete the new 486.
4. Can I file the new 486 now for Year 3 services if I've already received my funding commitment letters?
Yes, you may submit the form now -- in fact, you probably want to submit it as soon as possible so discounts can be applied to your bills as early as possible if you have made that decision with your service provider. If your service won't begin on July 1, 2000, then you should wait and file the 486 after the service actually has begun.
5. Can I put Year 2 and Year 3 FRNs on a single new 486?
No, only one year can be put on each Form. So if you still need to file your 486 from Year 2, and you need to file your new Year 3 486, they must go on separate forms.
6. Will I still be able to put several FRNs on a single 486 so I don't have to submit multiple forms?
Yes, this is probably the best approach to save you and the SLD a lot of time and paper.
7. What does the 486 actually do?
The 486 basically 'turns on the funding' -- whether it be funding to the service provider or to the applicant via a BEAR form. Without a 486 on file, there is no way for the SLD to know that the service has begun or has been provided.
8. What is the difference between the old 486 and the new 486?
Basically, the old 486 has been split into 2 forms to make it easier for applicants to use. The new 486 will be used solely to confirm that service is being received, or is about to be received, after an applicant has received a funding commitment letter.
The other functions of the old 486 have been moved into a new Form 500. This form should be used to advise the SLD of contract extensions or of cancellations or reductions of funding requests. Specifically:
(a) Applicants who have been funded for non-recurring services in Year 2 and who intend to take advantage of the newly announced extended installation period through September 30, but have contracts set to expire on or before June 30, should use the Form 500 to report contract extensions.
(b) The new Form 500 can also be used to cancel a FRN entirely (as could be done with the old Form 486) or to reduce the amount of funding requested. Reducing the amount of a FRN is a new option now available with the Form 500. Applicants who find that they have been awarded more funding than they will need in any funding year are strongly encouraged to file a Form 500 as soon as possible to free up potential funding for other applicants.
9. Will I still indicate on the 486 if I'm choosing discounts or reimbursement?
No, the new form does not have this question. Instead, the SLD will be accepting the first billing against the FRN as the indicator of how that money will be disbursed for the entire year. In other words, if an invoice comes from a service provider, the SLD assumes that you are being billed at a discount and that the fund moneys will go to the service provider to complete the payments. If the first request for the FRN is a BEAR form, SLD assumes the money is going to be passed through the service provider
to the applicant because the applicant is paying 100% of the bill on a regular basis. This makes it absolutely vital that applicants and service providers make a mutual agreement about how they want the billing to happen in Year 3.
10. If I received internal connections funding for Year 2 and would like to take advantage of the Year 2 extension for nonrecurring services through Sept. 30, 2000, should I file a Form 500 now?
Yes. In order to take advantage of the extension, applicants must file a new Form 500 listing the new contract expiration date. This is in addition to the Form 486, for which you may or may not have already filed.
11. Will applicants ever be able to file their 486's online?
I asked this question on our weekly conference call this week, and they said they hope to be able to offer that feature in Year 4, but aren't promising anything yet.
12. Should I send in my Year 2 486 now or wait until I send in my end of the year BEAR form?
The SLD urges everyone to send in their 486 as soon as they receive their Funding Commitment Letter, and not wait until the end of the year to send it in with their BEAR forms. To date, there are more than 800 year 2 FRNs that haven't been filed from PA applicants. If you won't be using the FRN, they strongly encourage you to cancel the FRN by using the new Form 500 so that those funds can be turned over to other non-funded applicants.
13. One last point... For those of you who have already received the new forms in the mail, there is a small mistake in the instructions. On the last page of the instructions, you are told to get a signature in Block 3, Item 10. In actual fact, the signature is needed in Block 4, Item 12. Just ignore the number discrepancy and put the signature where the form asks for it. The website instructions and subsequent mailed ones will be right.
Julie Tritt Schell
Executive Policy Specialist
Pennsylvania Department of Education
333 Market Street, 10th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17126
(717) 705-4486
(717) 787-7222 - fax
jtritt@state.pa.us
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