On July 27, 2015, the USAC Schools & Libraries Committee held their quarterly board meeting. In the session, the Committee reported that $400 million is currently available for rollover for future years. The Committee also discussed that the new target date to issue commitments for all "workable" FY2015 applications is now September 24th. In its 7th Report & Order, the Commission directed USAC to issue funding decisions for all "workable" Forms 471 by September 1. To date, the SLD has issued decisions for nearly half of the applications submitted, representing] approximately 25% of the dollar amount requested.
The Board also discussed the following issues:
- The Committee approved the Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism 4th Quarter 2015 Programmatic Budget and Demand Projection for the July 31, 2015 FCC Filing;
- The Committee approved eight USAC Internal Audit Division Beneficiary Audit Reports. There were a total of 28 findings and the total disbursed amount audited was $18 million;
- The SLD is working on their business process in order to issue commitments and disbursements at a quicker rate with the goal next year of issuing decisions for workable applications by July 1;
- The SLD is currently in the process of cleaning up their data and applicants will be contacted over the course of the next two months for clarification of their Category One requests;
- 2015 SLD Outreach as of June 30, 2015:
- 430 Service Provider’s attended SLD Spring Training Seminars
- 10 attendees at Monthly Tribal Conference Calls
- 19 Helping Applicants to Succeed (HATS) Visits
- 24451 Video Tutorial Views
- 3,860 Service Providers on SLD Monthly Vendor Calls
Note: The information above are not the official minutes from the meeting, but notes from Funds For Learning. The official minutes for this meeting, as well as minutes from previous meetings, can be found here.