Hopefully, New York applicants will be even more successful in PY4.

• PY2-PY4 status updates
• New SLD announcements
• Missed Form 470 deadline
• Other items – in brief

The SLD, for its part, is doing (or not doing) the following for the holidays:

1. A new Eligibility List and several important announcements were posted on the SLD Web site this week. A summary of these announcements is provided below.

2. Help line service through the Client Service Bureau (888-203-8100) will be unavailable on Christmas, the Tuesday after Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

3. No funding commitments, either for remaining PY3 applications or for out-of-the-window PY2 applications, will be made through the end of 2000. This will prevent any applicant from being adversely impacted by the effect of the holidays on the 30-day window if an appeal is needed.

PY2-PY4 Status Updates

PY2: Applicants who received normal funding commitments for PY2 (i.e., with FRNs unaffected by appeals and SPIN changes), but who have not yet filed Form 486s on specific FRNs, should expect letters from the SLD early next year announcing a deadline for action after which those FRNs would be stripped of funding. This could free up additional funds for out-of-the-window PY2 applications. The deadline is likely to be some time in February.

PY4: As of December 22, the effective deadline for Form 470 posting to meet the Form 471 application window, the SLD had received and posted about a thousand more Form 470s than last year. This level activity, although not necessarily indicative of funding demand, is not encouraging news for low discount rate applicants seeking internal connection funding for next year.

The federal budget bill passed by Congress, and expected to be signed by the President, contains an Internet filtering amendment that is likely to impact PY4 funding. Because several aspects of this legislation are still unclear, we will defer a full discussion until early next year.

New SLD Announcements

The "What’s New!" section of the SLD Web site contains a number of new announcements that should be reviewed with some care. Since the holidays are upon us and may reduce timely readership of this News for the Week, we are simply summarizing the key items. Most will be discussed in greater detail next year.

1. The "Alternative Discount Mechanisms Fact Sheet" provides guidance on using federally-approved alternative measures of poverty to assist in the calculation of a school's E-rate discount. New information is provided on the use of family surveys.

2. "State Replacement Contracts" outlines the procedures (including use of a "dummy SPIN") for filling out the Form 471 if a service is to be provided under a state Master Contract which expires before the end of the Funding Year for which you are applying for discounts. Every attempt has been made in New York to extend OGS contracts beyond the end of PY4.

3. "SPIN Change Guidance," for post-commitment changes in suppliers, clarifies eligible SPIN changes in light of new guidance from the FCC, including a broader and more flexible application of the "Copan" appeal decision criteria.

4. "SPIN Correction Guidance" details the process for making a SPIN correction using the Receipt Acknowledgment Letter ("RAL").

5. Another revised Eligibility List – the third in several months -- has been posted. Changes, marked in bold, include: (i) an indication that cellular and PCS are basic telephone service; (ii) additional guidance on the eligibility of cellular/PCS service; (iii) instruction for identifying the eligible component of on-site technical support; and (iv), eligibility updates on a number of video system components.

The last practical day on which to post a Form 470 for PY4 was December 21. Forms posted after this day would carry an Allowable Vendor Selection/Contract Date later than January 18, the last day of the Form 471 filing window. Applicants who missed the Form 470 deadline have limited options.

An applicant who mailed a Form 470 to the SLD well in advance of December 21, but whose Form was not data entered and posted on time, should call the SLD and request guidance. All contacts should be carefully documented. Two FCC appeal decisions have approved waivers to the 28-day posting period "where posting delays caused the waiting period to extend past the (471) filing window deadline, and the applicants, upon discovering the delays, contacted SLD to determine how to proceed."

An applicant who simply did not file a Form 470 in time may have certain opportunities to rely on previously filed Form 470s. The following conditions should be noted:

1. Do NOT assume that a Form 470 is not required for basic telephone services. Quite the contrary: Basic telephone is a tariffed service for which a Form 470 must be filed every year.

2. A Form 471 can be filed for the second and subsequent years of a multi-year contract for which a Form 470 had been properly filed in previous years. (This is the concept of an "evergreen" Form 470.)

3. A Form 471 can be filed for services and equipment to be procured under a State contract IF the contract was signed after the Allowable Contract Date of a State Form 470. For New York OGS contracts, the earliest such date is 11/30/1999. For NYS Form 470 application numbers and instructions on their use, see the OGS E-rate information at their Web site

Other Items – In Brief

1. New York applicants applying for Verizon telephone service should continue to use the old Bell Atlantic SPIN (143001359) for PY4. For E-rate purposes, the company is now known as "Verizon – New York."

2. More broadly, Verizon has updated the E-rate portion of its Web site with general filing information and Verizon SPINs (www.Verizon.com/edk-12) . Special telephone help lines have also been set up; the number for NYS applicants is 800-537-0434.

3. The GAO has just released a report on the results of their audit of SLD procedures. A copy of this report is available through the E-Rate Central Web site's Bulletin # 161 . Several findings of importance will be discussed in our news of the Week next year.