On July 25, 2016, USAC Schools and Libraries Committee held their quarterly board meeting. Mr. Blackwell provided the Committee an update on the challenges of this funding year and acknowledged the continued challenges associated with the EPC.
The Board also discussed the following issues:
Approval of Schools and Libraries Committee Meeting Minutes of April 26, 2016, June 21, 2016, and July 1, 2016;
Approval of Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism 4th Quarter 2016 Programmatic Budget and Demand Projection for the August 2, 2016 FCC Filing;
Approval of Ten USAC Internal Audit Division Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism Beneficiary Audit Reports; No Material Findings;
$3.6 billion is the demand for FY 2016
Four FY 2016 Funding Waves issued for 7,400 Form 471 applications for a total of $77.9 million;
The SLD acknowledged the pace is much slower than in FY 2015 and the main issue is the structural design flaw of EPC that they can no longer approve just category one applications tied to one applicant, but need to review the companion category two Form 471 at the same time which has caused delays in the commitment process;
The SLD is working with the telecommunications companies that submitted a letter to the FCC outlining serious issues tied to EPC and providing discounted invoicing to their customers;
This quarter, 92% of invoices were paid within 30 days; which is down a few percentage points of where they have been the last few years;
In FY 2015 all workable Form 471’s are completed and the SLD is working to resolve outstanding applications
Note: The information above are not the official minutes from the meeting, but simply notes from Funds For Learning. The official minutes for this meeting, as well as minutes from previous meetings, can be found here.
