Receipt Acknowledgement Letters
("RALLYs") |
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| Introduction |
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To provide additional application status information to schools and libraries
that submitted Form 471s within the window period, Receipt Acknowledgement
Letters ("RALLYs") are being sent to applicants in weekly waves after their
Form 471s have gone through the basic data entry stage. Early RALLY waves
acknowledged Form 471s that were entered directly online by applicants; later
waves will cover applications that were mailed. |
| RALLYs should be carefully reviewed as soon as possible. The RALLY letters give
applicants a chance to correct any data entry errors — and possibly certain
errors made by the applicants themselves — while the applications are still in
the SLD review process and before funding commitment decisions made. Quick
response is critical. Once a Form 471 gets through data entry, it moves to the
Problem Resolution and/or Program Integrity Assurance stages, and then to the
funding commitment stage. There is no built-in delay in the process to allow
for corrective responses from the applicants. Errors not corrected before the
funding commitment decision step will have to be handled through a more
cumbersome and time-consuming appeals process. The SLD strongly encourages
applicants to respond to RALLY letters, if necessary, within two weeks of
receipt. |
| Applicants may be receiving several different types of correspondence from the
SLD during the same period, so each must be checked vigilantly. RALLY letters
should be distinguished from BEAR acknowledgement letters, that indicate
approval of reimbursement requests for the current funding year. More
importantly, RALLY letters are not the same as Funding Commitment Decisions
("FCD") letters. RALLYs merely mirror application data; FCD letters reflect
actual E-rate award decisions. |
| RALLY Reviews: |
| The RALLY letter should be mailed to the contact person provided on the
associated Form 471 application. The applicant name and Billed Entity Number
will be shown in the address and reference sections, together with an assigned
Form 471 Application Number. A sample copy of a RALLY letter is available on
the SLD web site (see
sample RALLY letter). |
Besides basic applicant identity information, it is important to check that
every request line from Item (15) or Item (16) of the Form 471 is properly
listed in the RALLY letter. Each line item should be assigned a unique Funding
Request Number ("FRN") by the SLD. For each FRN, the following four items
should be carefully checked against the original Form 471:
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The Service Provider Identification Number ("SPIN"), a nine-digit number
beginning "143…," should be accurate or will have to be changed later. The
service provider’s formal corporate name is also given, but may not be familiar
if the provider normally does business under a different name. Bell Atlantic
Mobile, for example, may show up as "Cellco Partnership." If the name is not
familiar, double check the SPIN. If in doubt, check with the supplier.
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The abbreviated services ordered description should correctly indicate which of
the three types of service is applicable (Telecommunications Service, Internet
Access, or Internal Connection). If E-rate funding is limited in 1999-2000, as
it was last year, it is particularly important that telecommunications and
Internet access services not be mis-characterized as Internal Connection
services for which funding may not be available for lower discount rate
applicants.
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The pre-discounted cost should match the requested amount.
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The discount rate should be carefully checked, not only against the last column
of Item (15) or Item (16), but against the discount rate calculation table
provided in Item (14).
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