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 April’s service provider call include:
Thursday, May 10, 2012 in Atlanta, GA (currently full)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 in Los Angeles, CA
Update on Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) Reviews As a reminder, service providers may help applicants with questions tied to the eligibility of products and services. PIA questions tied to competitive bidding, procurement and budgets should be answered solely by the applicant.
Invoicing Update Payments for the month of March totaled $164 million, against $208 million in requests. Invoices were submitted by 1,579 service providers, and 99% were processed within 30 day
Other Discussion Topics
SPIN Change Update: Due to the FCC’s Sixth Report & Order, operational SPIN changes will now require that there be a material reason for the change and the second place bidder will need to be the new service provider.
BMIC Service Delivery Deadlines: Services under 12-month contracts for maintenance must begin on July 1 of the funding year in order to be fully discounted in that year. If services start after July 1, a portion of the service charges will fall into the next funding year and should be requested in that year.
Invoicing Methods: The applicant has the choice to receive discounted invoices or to pay 100% up front for products and services and seek reimbursement. If the service provider provides discounted invoices to the applicant, the service provider needs to submit the FCC Form 474 (SPI), however, if the applicant pays the service provider 100% up front, the applicant would need to submit the FCC Form 472 (BEAR) to get reimbursed.
Note: The above information is not the official minutes from the call, but simply notes from Funds For Learning.
