• PY4 Wave 8 Released
• Online Form 470 Enabled for Electronic Signatures
• PY3 Form 486 and Form 472 (BEAR) Deadlines
• Deadline for Certifying Attachments for Rejected PY4 Applications

The following is a summary of the E-rate News for the Week of November 12, 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 8 Released

Wave 8 of Funding Commitment Decision Letters (“FCDLs”) was mailed on Friday, November 16. Total funding in this wave was a disappointing $9.8 million. At this rate, with 25-30% of available funding yet to be awarded, funding waves could extend well into 2002.

Cumulative funding for PY4 now stands at $1.644 billion. Funding for internal connections is still being awarded only to applicants at the 90% discount level.

Online Form 470 Enabled for Electronic Signatures

The SLD’s online system for filing Form 470s was updated this week to accept the use of electronic signatures. A Form 470 can now be filed completely online, without the need to mail in the separately signed certification pages. Near the end of the online process, an applicant is now given the option of including an electronic signature or printing out the certification pages for a normal signature.

To use the electronic signature option, the Form 470 signer must have been previously assigned a User ID and PIN. Any authorized person, who has previously signed a Form 471 or Form 486 for PY2 or later, can apply online for a User ID and PIN. Details on the use of electronic signatures for E-rate forms, and a link to the PIN Request Area can be found in the Reference Area of the SLD Web Site.

Within the next week or two, the online Form 471 system should also be updated to accept electronic signatures.

PY3 Form 486 and Form 472 (BEAR) Deadlines

The SLD has begun a concerted effort to close out the disbursement of funds awarded for PY3. Except in exceptional cases in which deadlines have been extended for utilizing funding for non-recurring services (see the FRN Extension Status section of the SLD Web site, all other PY3 services that are eligible for funding should have been used. Recurring monthly services had to have been used by June 30; non-recurring services normally had to have been used by September 30, 2001. To actually use awarded funds, an applicant must first file a Form 486. Funds are then disbursed when a supplier discounts a bill and invoices the SLD or when the applicant files a BEAR for discount reimbursement.

PY3 deadlines have just been established by the SLD for the submission of Form 486s and the final BEARs or supplier invoices. Once the deadlines are passed, the SLD intends to cancel any outstanding funding. There are two Form 486 deadlines, and two BEAR and supplier invoice deadlines. Applicants who have not yet filed Form 486s for all funded services are now being notified of these deadlines. The four PY3 deadlines are as follows:

1. Form 486s for recurring services (received by June 30, 2001) must be postmarked by December 14, 2001.
   
   
2. Form 486s for non-recurring services (received by September 30, 2001) must be postmarked by January 28, 2002.
   
   
3. BEARs (Form 472s) or Form 474s (supplier invoices) for any funding requests (“FRNs”) covered by Form 486s postmarked by November 12, 2001, must be postmarked by January 31, 2002.
   
   
4. BEARs or Form 474s for any funding requests (“FRNs”) covered by Form 486s postmarked after November 12, 2001, must be postmarked no later than 90 days after the issuance of the associated Form 486 Notification Letters. Case-by-case deadlines in this category will be February 2002 or later, depending upon later Form 486 submissions and processing.

To avoid any potential deadline problems, with a resulting loss of PY3 funding, we strongly recommend that applicants submit their Form 486s and BEARs as soon as possible.

Deadline for Certifying Attachments for Rejected PY4 Applications

After the close of the PY4 Form 471 application window last January, the SLD found almost 600 applications, that had been properly certified and had been filed on a timely basis, that did not include the required Item 21 attachments. Since the SLD’s Minimum Processing Standards for PY4 required these attachments, the SLD rejected these applications. Pink postcards were sent to these applicants as rejection notifications. About half the affected applicants appealed, often arguing that the attachments had indeed been properly mailed to the SLD. After subsequent investigation, it was determined that certain application attachments may have been mishandled by the SLD.

Late in October, in an effort to correct any potential SLD errors, the SLD sent letters and faxes to these rejected applicants, whether they had appealed or not, offering to reconsider their applications if they were prepared to certify that their attachments had been properly submitted. The deadline for postmarking these certifications is Monday, November 26.

Interestingly, for PY5, although Item 25 attachments will still be required to complete an application, the deadline for submitting the attachment within the application window has been eliminated. To speed application review, however, we recommend that attachments be submitted as promptly as possible.