Historically, USAC’s Schools and Libraries Division has hosted monthly service provider conference calls, providing information and guidance for vendors participating in the E-rate program. In an effort to maximize efficiency, the SLD has developed the conference call into a monthly webinar. Highlights from the August 6, 2014 service provider webinar include:
New Webinar Format: Generally scheduled for the first Wednesday of every month, service providers must register here for each webinar separately. The next monthly webinar is scheduled for September 10, 2014.
E-Rate Modernization Questions: The SLD will provide a place on their web site where questions can be submitted regarding the program changes, new rules and other modernization related items. These questions will not be answered directly, but will be harvested and compiled on the USAC website as Frequently Asked Questions with corresponding answers.
Invoice Update: The last date to invoice for FY12 and FY13 is October 28, 2014.
Top five reasons for invoice rejection in July:
- Invalid Form 471 or FRN
- Billed Outside of Funding Year
- Total Commitment Paid
- Billed Date Prior to Form 486 Start Date
- Duplicate Invoice
Form 472 Reminders: When certifying BEARs (Form 472) online, the SLD reminded service providers to positively certify each line item by selecting the box to the right of each individual item. If each line item is not certified in this manner, the SLD advised that the invoice will be rejected.
Form 500 Reminders: The Form 500 allows the applicant to make various adjustments to their funding requests such as alerting the SLD that a contract has been extended, adjusting the service start date, canceling or reducing a funding request or requesting an installation deadline extension.
The SLD highlighted a particular function of the Form 500—Service Delivery Extension. With the Non-Recurring Service Delivery deadline for FY14 approaching on September 30th, the SLD wanted to remind service providers that extension requests must be submitted on or before this deadline. With the Form 500 being filed by the applicant, the SLD encouraged service providers to work with their customers to get the request filed by the deadline.
Draft ESL: The FY 2015 Draft ESL has been released for comment. Initial comments are due September 3rd, while reply comments can be submitted up to September 18th.
Note: The information above is not the official minutes from the webinar, but simply notes from Funds For Learning. The official minutes for this webinar can be found here and archived call notes can be found here.
