• PY4 Wave 7 Released
• SLD Letter to Applicants re. PY5
• New Telecom Name Search Made Available by FCC
• New York State E-rate Training Sessions in November

The following is a summary of the E-rate News for the Week of October 29, 2001, prepared by E-Rate Central. Official SLD news appears in the “What’s New!” section of the SLD’s Web site . Additional and archived information appears elsewhere on our E-Rate Central Web site .

PY4 Wave 7 Released

Wave 7 of Funding Commitment Decision Letters (“FCDLs”) will be mailed this week. Total funding in this wave is $70.3 million, a somewhat smaller amount than we would have expected after the four-week funding hiatus. At this rate, funding waves will extend well into December.

Cumulative funding for PY4 now stands at $1.635 billion. Funding for internal connections is still being awarded only to applicants at the 90% discount level.

SLD Letter to Applicants re. PY5

The SLD sent a letter to all schools and libraries this week discussing the requirements and timetable for next year’s applications. A copy of the letter is available on our Web site. Several key points and dates are summarized below.

• The Form 471 application window will open at noon EST on Monday, November 5, 2001, and will close at 11:59 p.m. EST on Thursday, January 17, 2002.
• The last possible date to file a Form 470 electronically, allowing for the required 28-day posting period if the subsequent Form 471 is to be filed on the last day of the window, is December 20, 2001. Manually filed Form 470s should be filed no later than December 12, 2001, to allow time for SLD data entry by December 20. The SLD strongly recommends filing both forms well before the deadlines.
• The correct versions of the forms to be used for PY5 are September 1999 for the Form 470 and October 2000 for the Form 471.
• The following materials must be received or postmarked on or before January 17, 2002:
• the basic Form 471;
• the Block 6 certification on the Form 471 (signed in ink and mailed, or transmitted using the new electronic signature function); and
• a properly signed certification on any Form 470 referenced in the Form 471.
• The SLD reminded applicants of the importance of complying with the program’s competitive bidding requirements. They also stressed “that applicants are REQUIRED to pay the remaining cost of services after the discount is applied, and…must have secured access to all necessary resources to make effective use of the services.”

New Telecom Name Search Made Available by FCC

One of the frustrations of using the BEAR/SPIN Search function on the SLD Web site is that service providers are listed by their formal legal names, not necessarily the same as their “doing business as” (“d.b.a.”) or trade names. There is now a tool available on the FCC’s Web site that allows a user to search a list of registered telecommunications carriers by either a legal or trade name. Only the first part of the name is needed to access a list of corresponding entries.

New York State E-rate Training Sessions in November

As we have done in previous years, E-Rate Central will be holding half-day E-rate workshops for New York State applicants this fall. The November workshop schedule is provided below. Locations and registration information are posted on the New York State section of the E-rate Central Web site. Please be advised that security practices at some locations require pre-registration.

Nov. 9 – New York

Nov. 13 – Albany

Nov. 14 – Syracuse

Nov. 14 - Watertown

Nov. 15– Utica

Nov. 16 – Buffalo