NOTE: USAC will not issue an SL News Brief next Friday, November 23 due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Also, the Client Service Bureau (CSB) will be closed Thursday, November 22 and Friday, November 23.

Commitments for Funding Year 2018

Funding Year 2018. USAC released Funding Year (FY) 2018 Wave 32 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on November 16. As of November 16, FY2018 commitments total over $1.90 billion.

On the date that FCDLs are issued, you can access your FCDL notification from the Notifications section of your landing page in the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC).

FCC Releases FY2019 Eligible Services List

On November 16, 2018, in Public Notice DA 18-1173, the FCC released the Eligible Services List (ESL) for FY2019. Appendix A contains a list of commenters, and Appendix B contains the ESL itself.

EPC Deployment News

We would like to call your attention to two changes that occurred during our most recent deployment to EPC.

Service providers now have an additional option when searching for FCC Forms 470 in EPC. You can now choose “Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections” as a search option when you use EPC to locate FCC Forms 470 and RFP documents in order to submit bids.

Note that this option has always been available in the View an FCC Form 470 tool and the Download FCC Form 470 Information tool on the Tools page of the USAC website. However, EPC data is updated in real time, while the information on the Tools page is updated nightly.

All users who download a PDF document from their News feed in EPC will notice that the text “(Version 1)” has been added to the file name. This is a bug; there is no Version 2. USAC is working on a fix, but does do not yet have an estimate on how long the fix will take to implement.

November Webinar: Updating Profiles for Applicants (Beginner Level)

USAC’s webinar topic for November is Updating Profiles for Applicants. This webinar is designed for new E-rate Program applicants and anyone else who wants a review of the basic elements of applicant entity profiles. During the webinar, the audience will have the opportunity to take part in a live question and answer session with members of the E-rate Program team where USAC SLD staff will answer questions related to the webinar topic. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, November 20 at 3:00 p.m. ET.

In this webinar, USAC will provide an introduction to entity profiles in EPC, including information about what profile data should be updated during the administrative window. Because USAC has completed its entity profile updates from our review of FY2018 applications, all applicants can now go into their profiles and make any updates that reflect changes that have occurred after application review.

You can register for the November webinar from the Webinars page on the USAC website or by clicking here.

As a reminder, entity profiles will be locked in early January. This lock is necessary because school district discount calculations form the basis for the discounts of libraries and consortia, and those entities depend on the stability of this data.

  • A library system uses the percentage of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) from the school district in which the main branch of that library system is located.
  • A consortium calculates its discount using the simple average of the discounts of its members. Even if the consortium consists solely of libraries, school district calculations are still required.

Last Call for Training Registrations

There are still seats available for the final applicant and Tribal training sessions in Spokane, Atlanta, and Farmington. To register or get more information for each location, visit the 2018 Applicant Training page and the Tribal Training page on the USAC website.

Here is a list of the available dates and locations:

November 28 at Spokane Community College, Spokane, Washington

  • Full-day sessions focused on Tribal training and information for beginners.

November 28–29 at Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center, Atlanta, Georgia

  • Beginner training the afternoon of November 28.
  • Full-day training on November 29, with some general sessions and tracks for beginners and advanced participants.

November 30 at San Juan College, Farmington, New Mexico

  • Full-day sessions focused on Tribal training and information for beginners.