• E-Mailing and Faxing Form 471 Item 21 Attachments
• SLD Reminder on 7-Day Response Procedures

E-Mailing and Faxing Form 471 Item 21 Attachments

Last week's E-rate News noted that a surprisingly large number of FY5 applicants had not yet sent their required Item 21 attachments to the SLD, and that their Form 471s could not be processed without this supporting documentation.

This week, the SLD announced two options whereby applicants could submit their attachments via e-mail, by scanning them and sending as attached files to attachments@sl.universalservice.org, of via facsimile to (973) 599-6511.

The instructions in the SLD announcement (see What's New section) indicate that:

1. Only Form 471 attachments should be sent to this e-mail address or fax number.
   
   
2. A cover page should be included providing all relevant identification data (applicant name, billed entity number, and application number).
   
   
3. Each attachment should be carefully labeled to match the Form 471 Block 5 references.
   
   
4. If possible, include all attachments for a single Form 471 in one e-mail or fax. Do NOT include attachments from multiple Form 471s in one message.
   
   
5. Do NOT use this e-mail option or fax number if PIA has already asked you to fax the information to a reviewer's direct fax number.
   
   
6. For sending attachment files via e-mail, the following additional guidelines are suggested:
   
   
7. Information requested for the cover page should also be included in the text of the e-mail (and we'd suggest making the e-mail subject "Form 471 Attachments for Application No. #######).
   
   
8. The SLD can accept file sizes up to a total of 10 Megabytes;
   
   
9. The SLD can accept scanned files in various formats (pdf, rtf, tif, gif, jpg, etc.), but would prefer "tif." Images can be in color, gray scale, or black and white, but must be legible.
   
   
10. Attachments may also sent in standard word processing or spreadsheet formats.
    
    
11. Multiple files can be attached to a single e-mail (but, if possible, we would suggest having all attachments scanned into a single file to ease SLD processing).

The attached file or files can be compressed or "zipped" (but, if possible, we would suggest using uncompressed files to ease SLD processing). (Note: Some services, such as AOL, automatically zip e-mail attachments of two or more files.)

SLD Reminder on 7-Day Response Procedures

Another announcement on the SLD Web site this week (see What's New section) included a discussion of the procedures and response deadlines for applicant inquiries by the SLD reviewers.

Generally, when contacted by the SLD, an applicant will be given 7 calendar days to respond. It is important to understand that the 7-day deadline begins when the SLD makes contact with the applicant. Under SLD procedures, this does NOT necessarily mean when the SLD talks to an applicant. The SLD deems that contact has been made when a fax or e-mail is successfully sent, a voicemail is left, or when someone else at the school or library has been reached. Applicants who have provided fax numbers or e-mail addresses, even if they have not indicated a preference for those contact modes, must make sure that fax and e-mail messages are monitored.

If an applicant does not respond to a request for additional information (or cannot make contact), the SLD's final course of action is to process the application solely on the basis of the original submission. Usually this means reducing or denying individual funding requests or an entire application.

In our experience, the SLD will be flexible on the 7-day deadline if -- and this is an important "if" -- an applicant is clearly being responsive and justifies a request for additional time to gather information. Ducking SLD inquiries is NOT a successful E-rate strategy!