On June 8, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission released a Public Notice announcing that changes to the Form 470 drop-down menu choices will be deferred until Funding Year 2022. Per the Public Notice:
Given the ongoing disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we think it prudent to defer making changes to the FCC Form 470 drop-down menu options until funding year 2022 to allow schools and libraries to continue to focus their time and resources on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic without the added burden of having to familiarize themselves with a modified form.
In deferring changes to the Form 470, the FCC also directed USAC to continue using its 2019 guidance regarding 470s for Internet access:
…for funding year 2020, we direct USAC not to deny any application or issue a commitment adjustment for any application solely because the applicant selected the “Internet Access: ISP Service Only (No Transport Circuit Included)” drop-down menu option and subsequently selected on its FCC Form 471 a service that delivers Internet access to its premises. For those applications, USAC should not find a competitive bidding violation so long as the applicant has otherwise complied with all of the Commission’s competitive bidding rules.
The Commission had solicited feedback from E-rate stakeholders regarding the “drop-down” options on the Form 470 in October 2019, with a number of organizations suggesting changes in their comments and reply comments.
