On March 31, 2017 the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) released its 2016 Annual Report. The report provides the Federal Communications Commission and Congress details about the non-profit company's activities, expenses, and performance measures regarding its management of the Universal Service Fund programs.
USAC acknowledged the difficult rollout of the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) for FY 2016 and stated that they “….recognize that FY 2016 was a challenging year for applicants and providers as a result of ongoing system issues” USAC will try to be more transparent going forward and increase their communications with various stakeholders regarding future EPC enhancement rollouts.
E-rate highlights from the 2016 report include:
- The average time it took USAC to process E-rate reimbursement 2016 forms: 68 days which is up 2 days from 2015;
- Average appeal processing time in 2016 was 69 days; down from 83 days in 2015;
- USAC rejected 15% of the invoices in 2016 which is down 2.4% from 2015
The USAC 2016 Annual Report can be viewed here.