On July 29, 2013, the USAC Schools and Libraries Committee held their Quarterly meeting and discussed various E-rate related topics, including policy, and administration issues. The highlights of the meeting are as follows:
- The Committee voted to keep Anne Campbell as the Chair and Brian Talbot as the Vice Chair of the Committee.
- The Committee approved the 4th Quarter 2013 and Revised 2013 Annual Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism Programmatic Budgets.
- The quarterly budget was approved at $12.1 million and the annual budget was revised to $46.7 million.
- The Committee approved the 4th Quarter 2013 Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism Demand Projection that will be filed on August 2, 2013 and we will obtain confirmation on August 2nd as to the amount of possible funds available for the FY2013 rollover.
- The Committee approved three USAC Internal Audit Division School and Libraries Support Mechanism Beneficiary Audits.
- One of the audits found the applicant to be in compliance, while two of the audits found that the applicants were not in compliance and USAC is seeking recovery of the funds.
- These issues are tied to competitive bidding and bid evaluation violations.
- Mel Blackwell provided the Committee with an overview of the E-rate Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that was released on July 23, 2013, and indicated it was unlikely that USAC would respond formally.
- The next Quarterly Board meeting will be on October 28, 2013.
USAC provides the official minutes of their meetings on their website once they are approved by the Schools and Libraries Committee.
