• October Filing Deadlines - Last Warning
• BEAR Deadline for Recurring FY 2001 Services: October 28th
• Form 486 Deadline for FY 2002 Services: October 29th (and later)
• Special Library Form 486 Deadline for FY 2001 Services: October 28th
• Using the SLD Data Retrieval Database to Check Status

October 28th and 29th are important filing deadlines. Most E-rate participants will be affected by at least one of these deadlines. To avoid losing funding that has already been awarded, please review the following deadlines carefully.

BEAR Deadline for Recurring FY 2001 Services: October 28th

The deadline for filing BEARs (Form 472s) for discount reimbursements is 120 days after the last day for receipt of service (or, if later, 120 days after a Form 486 Notification Letter). For most applicants seeking reimbursements on FY 2001 recurring services ending June 30, 2002, BEARs must be postmarked by October 28, 2002. BEARs postmarked after this deadline will not be processed and funding will be lost. Remember that a BEAR form must be acknowledged by the supplier before it can be submitted.

If a SPIN change needs be made before filing a BEAR, a special "Correcting" SPIN change request must be submitted by October 28th (for filing instructions, see Spin Change). The associated BEAR must then be filed no later than 120 days after the SPIN change is approved.

Under certain other circumstances, a BEAR deadline can also be extended by filing an Invoice Deadline Extension. A list of acceptable reasons and instructions can be found at Invoicing Deadlines. An applicant that needs a BEAR deadline extension for any non-listed reason should file a request with an appropriate explanation rather than simply letting the funding expire. The SLD may approve the extension. At worst, a negative decision on an extension request can be appealed.

The deadline for filing Form 486s, indicating receipt of services, is 120 days from either the date of the Funding Commitment Decision Letter ("FCDL") or from the start of service, whichever is later. The critical date for FY 2002 funds awarded in Waves 1-6 (for services starting July 1, 2002) is October 29th. Deadlines for subsequent funding waves arise at two week intervals. The following Form 486 deadlines apply to 2002:

The penalty for missing a Form 486 deadline is a reduction in funding. If, for example, an applicant funded in Waves 1-6 does not file the associated Form 486 until November 29th, the SLD will adjust the start date to 120 days prior to the postmark date (i.e., to August 1, 2002) and reduce the funding accordingly (i.e., to 11/12ths of the originally approved amount).

This summer, the FCC issued special rules covering libraries that had lost FY 2001 funding as a result of Form 486 CIPA certification problems related to an ongoing court case on Internet filtering that was resolved in the libraries' favor. The rules covered the following four situational categories:

In all four situations, the affected library would either be contacted by the SLD or would have to take corrective actions by October 28, 2002. Libraries in any of these categories should review CIPA Guidance .

Any applicant wishing to check that a BEAR or Form 486 has been submitted and processed, can use the SLD's new online Data Retrieval database to review the status of any given FRN(s). Please note that this tool is effective only if the form in question has been processed and approved by the SLD. As a result, no information will be available on forms submitted but not yet processed by the SLD.

To check on a specific FRN, we recommend the following steps:

(1) In the Data Retrieval search screen, select the appropriate funding year ("2001" for BEARs or "2002" for Form 486s), select the state in question, and enter the Billed Entity Number. Instructions on using the Data Retrieval tool can be found on the SLD Web site.

(2) On the next screen, select the data fields of interest (including "Amount Authorized for Disbursement" for BEARs or "Service Start Date as Shown on the Form 486" for Form 486s). Then click ">>Build Data File."

(3) Download the resulting Data File following the instructions on the next screen (e.g., right-click for PC users). Import the Data File, which is a tab-delimited text file, into Excel (or another database program) for easier reading and data manipulation. Each row of the resulting file will provide data on one FRN.

If the "Amount Authorized for Disbursement" field is blank, it means that no BEAR (or supplier invoice) has been filed and approved for that FRN. If the "Service Start Date as Shown on the Form 486" field is blank, it means that no Form 486 has been filed and approved.