USAC’s Schools and Libraries Division hosts monthly service provider conference calls, providing information and guidance for vendors participating in the E-rate program. Highlights from the January 6, 2016 service provider webinar include:
Invoicing Update
Payments for the month of December totaled $145.3 million against requests for $201.7 million for 1,674 service providers and 95% of the invoices were processed within 30 days.
Top Denial Explanations:
Total Commitment Paid
Duplicate Invoicing
Invoice Received After Deadline
Service Provider Not Certified
Invalid Form 471/FRN
Q&A
Q: I know that if an applicant is looking for dark fiber, the applicant must also request prices for lit fiber. But if an applicant is only looking for lit fiber, is the applicant also required to request dark fiber prices?
A: No, the applicant is not required to seek solutions for dark fiber services in this instance.
Q: How are the questions selected for the webinars? I do not have a microphone so I have to submit my questions online.
A: Service providers can use the “Submit A Question” on the SLD website to submit a question for this call.
Q: For one of my customers, two FCC Form 471 application numbers and FRNs were not listed on the Data Retrieval Tool. How do I know if the customer has received a commitment from USAC?
A: The SLD sends funding commitment letters to both the applicant and the service provider listed on the Form 471.
Note: The summary 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.
