The Schools and Libraries Division announced June 25 that it has wrapped up the final regular wave of the 2002 funding year, committing a total of $2.2 billion through Wave 30.
In an announcement, the SLD said that there are "some applications with unique circumstances that SLD is working to complete. Money has been reserved for these applications and as they are completed, they will receive their funding commitment letters on an individual basis in the coming weeks."
The Federal Communications Commission had authorized the SLD to commit up to $2.7 billion for the 2002 funding year, recognizing that in the past, applicants have not been able to make use of all the funding that had been approved for them and that disbursements have traditionally lagged below the $2.2 billion threshold. The SLD recently announced that it would be unable to fund requests for internal connections from applicants with a discount rate of 80 percent for that funding year, clearing the way for letters to be sent, informing those applicants that their requests would be denied because of insufficient funds.
It was not immediately clear what the value was of the remaining applications under review, or how large of a contingency for appeals the SLD is maintaining. Appeals challenging the rejection of at least $320 million worth of internal connections funding requests have already been filed in the name of a single vendor.
