E-Rate News for the Week of 10/21 – 10/25/2002

 

October Filing Deadlines –

•

 

BEAR Deadline for Recurring FY 2001 Services: October 28

th

  

•

 

Form 486 Deadline for FY 2002 Services: October 29

th

(and later)

•

 

Special Library Form 486 Deadline for FY 2001 Services: October 28

th

  

•

 

Using the SLD Data Retrieval Database to Check Status

The E-Rate News for the Week, prepared by E-Rate Central, is sponsored by the

Council of Chief State School Officers ("CCSSO") and made possible by a grant

from the AT&T Foundation. Official SLD news is in the "What’s New!" section of

the SLD’s Web site (http://www.sl.universalservice.org). Additional information is

on the State Education Telecommunications Alliance’s ("SETA") Web site

(http://www.e-ratecentral.com).

October Filing Deadlines –

October 28

th

and 29

th

are important filing deadlines. Most E-rate participants will

be affected by at least one of these deadlines. To avoid losing funding that has

already been awarded, please review the following situations carefully.

•

 

BEAR Deadline for Recurring FY 2001 Services: October 28

th

  

The deadline for filing BEARs (Form 472s) for discount reimbursements is

120 days after the last day for receipt of service (or, if later, 120 days after

a Form 486 Notification Letter). For most applicants seeking

reimbursements on FY 2001 recurring services ending June 30, 2002,

BEARs must be postmarked by October 28, 2002. BEARs postmarked

after this deadline will not be processed and funding will be lost.

Remember that a BEAR form must be acknowledged by the supplier

before it can be submitted.

If a SPIN change needs be made before filing a BEAR, a special

"Correcting" SPIN change request must be submitted by October 28

th

(for

filing instructions, see

http://www.sl.universalservice.org/reference/SpinChange.asp). The

associated BEAR must then be filed no later than 120 days after the SPIN

change is approved.

Under certain other circumstances, a BEAR deadline can also be

extended by filing an Invoice Deadline Extension. A list of acceptable

reasons and instructions can be found at

http://www.sl.universalservice.org/reference/InvoicingDeadlines.asp.

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An applicant that needs a BEAR deadline extension for any non-listed

reason should file a request with an appropriate explanation rather than

simply letting the funding expire. The SLD may approve the extension. At

worst, a negative decision on an extension request can be appealed.

•

 

Form 486 Deadline for FY 2002 Services: October 29

th

(and later)

The deadline for filing Form 486s, indicating receipt of services, is 120

days from either the date of the Funding Commitment Decision Letter

("FCDL") or from the start of service, whichever is later. The critical date

for FY 2002 funds awarded in Waves 1-6 (for services starting July 1,

2002) is October 29

th

. Deadlines for subsequent funding waves arise at

two week intervals. The following Form 486 deadlines apply to 2002:

October 29

th

– Waves 1-6 (FCDLs dated on or before July 1)

November 13

th

– Wave 7 (FCDL dated July 16)

November 27

th

– Wave 8 (FCDL dated July 30)

December 11

th

– Wave 9 (FCDL dated August 13)

December 24

th

– Wave 10 (FCDL dated August 26)

The penalty for missing a Form 486 deadline is a reduction in funding. If,

for example, an applicant funded in Waves 1-6 does not file the

associated Form 486 until November 29

th

, the SLD will adjust the start

date to 120 days prior to the postmark date (i.e., to August 1, 2002) and

reduce the funding accordingly (i.e., to 11/12

ths

of the originally approved

amount).

•

 

Special Library Form 486 Deadline for FY 2001 Services: October 28

th

  

This summer, the FCC issued special rules covering libraries that had lost

FY 2001 funding as a result of Form 486 CIPA certification problems

related to an ongoing court case on Internet filtering that was resolved in

the libraries’ favor. The rules covered the following four situational

categories:

(1) A Form 486 was submitted without a CIPA certification;

(2) A Form 486 was not submitted at all;

(3) A Form 500 was submitted to cancel or reduce funding; or

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(4) A Form 486 was submitted after that year’s October 28, 2001,

deadline.

In all four situations, the affected library would either be contacted by the

SLD or would have to take corrective actions by October 28, 2002.

Libraries in these categories should review

http://www.sl.universalservice.org/reference/CIPAGuidance.asp.

•

 

Using the SLD Data Retrieval Database to Check Status

Any applicant wishing to check that a BEAR or Form 486 has been

submitted and processed, can use the SLD’s new online Data Retrieval

database to review the status of any given FRN(s). Please note that this

tool is effective only if the form in question has been processed and

approved by the SLD. As a result, no information will be available on

forms submitted but not yet processed by the SLD.

To check on a specific FRN, we recommend the following steps:

(1) In the Data Retrieval search screen, select the appropriate funding

year ("2001" for BEARs or "2002" for Form 486s), select the state in

question, and enter the Billed Entity Number. (Instructions on using the

Data Retrieval tool can be found on the SLD Web site at

http://www.sl.universalservice.org/funding/OpenDataSearch/.)

(2) On the next screen, select the data fields of interest (including "Amount

Authorized for Disbursement" for BEARs or "Service Start Date as

Shown on the Form 486" for Form 486s). Then click ">>Build Data

File."

(3) Download the resulting Data File following the instructions on the next

screen (e.g., right-click for PC users). Import the Data File, which is a

tab-delimited text file, into Excel (or another database program) for

easier reading and data manipulation. Each row of the resulting file will

provide data on one FRN.

If the "Amount Authorized for Disbursement" field is blank, it means that

no BEAR (or supplier invoice) has been filed and approved for that FRN. If

the "Service Start Date as Shown on the Form 486" field is blank, it means

that no Form 486 has been filed and approved.

Disclaimer: This newsletter may contain unofficial information on prospective E-

rate developments and/or may reflect E-Rate Central’s own interpretations of E-

rate practices and regulations. Such information is provided for planning and

guidance purposes only. It is not meant, in any way, to supplant official