On October 24, 2016, the USAC Schools and Libraries Committee held their quarterly board meeting. Craig Davis, the new SLD Vice President, provided the Committee with an update on the continued challenges of this funding year as well as information about planning for the upcoming funding year application cycle.
Here are the highlights from the meeting:
- The Committee approved the SLD’s recommendation that the FY2017 application filing window will open no earlier than February 2, 2017 and close not earlier than March 31, 2017;
- Challenges tied to processing FY2016 applications:
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- System limitations has hindered completion of larger applications
- While September 1, 2016 was the target date to commit all “workable” FY2016, that target date was not met
- As of September 30, 2016, 16,000 Form 471’s are still pending totaling $2.78 billion
- The updated target date to finish up committing FY 2016 applications is December 31, 2016
- USAC and the FCC are continuing to clarify FY 2016 processes
- USAC is continuing to improve PIA procedures
- USAC is waiting on further FCC guidance on Fiber issues
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.