On June 24, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission released the draft Eligible Services List for FY2012. Comments to the FCC’s proposed changes will be due on July 15, 2011, and reply comments must be submitted by July 25, 2011. While it appears that the Commission has proposed numerous changes and clarifications to the ESL, it should be noted that the draft does not propose the addition or elimination of any major areas of functionality. Highlights from the summary include:
- “clarified the ESL introduction to remind applicants that any telecommunications service is eligible for E-rate funding, however, for the remaining funding categories, funding is limited to those products and services that are specifically listed in the ESL.”
- “clarified the introduction of the Internet Access category by replacing and updating the description of eligible Internet access service with the definition of Internet access from the Commission’s rules”
- “revised the description of web hosting services that are not eligible for E-rate discounts and moved this description to the entry for Internet Access services that are not eligible.”
- “clarified that password protected pages are not eligible for E-rate discounts if they are established exclusively for use by librarians, administrators, school officials or teachers.”
- “revised the “Maintenance and Technical Support of Internal Connections” entry for the BMIC category to conform to the Sixth Report and Order requirement that BMIC be reimbursed based on actual work performed.”
The Eligible Services List is updated by the FCC once per year. In each year, a draft ESL is published and E-rate stakeholders are given an opportunity to comment on the proposed changes. After the comment deadline, submitted comments are reviewed and the final ESL is published, which governs E-rate eligibility for products and services purchased with E-rate discounts within the applicable funding year. Stay tuned to the Funds For Learning website for more news and analysis regarding the FY2012 Eligible Services List.
