[OPLINLIST] Fwd: USAC's Schools and Libraries News Brief for this week

Fri Dec 15 14:01:05 EST 2017

Hello all,

I don't often forward these, but this one has some excellent tips on filing
your eRate form 470.

Best,
Mandy Knapp
Digital Resources Manager
Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
Phone:  614-728-5252
Fax:  614 -728 -5256

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: SL News Brief <NoReply at usac.org>
Date: Fri, Dec 15, 2017 at 1:51 PM
Subject: USAC's Schools and Libraries News Brief for this week
To: mandy at oplin.ohio.gov

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*December 15, 2017*

*TIP OF THE WEEK:* *The FY2018 application filing window will open at noon
EST on Thursday, January 11, 2018 and close at 11:59 PM EDT on Thursday,
March 22, 2018. *Thursday, February 22, 2018 is the last day applicants can
certify an FCC Form 470, wait the required 28 days, and certify an FCC Form
471 on the last day of the window.

*Commitments for Funding Year 2017*

*Funding Year 2017.* USAC is scheduled to release Funding Year (FY) 2017
Wave 30 Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) on December 22. As of
December 15, FY2017 commitments total over $2.03 billion.

On the date that FCDLs are issued, you can access your FCDL notification
from the *Notifications* section of your landing page in the E-rate
Productivity Center (EPC).

*FY2018 FCC Form 470 Reminders*

To start an FCC Form 470 for FY2018 in EPC, log in to EPC and click the *FCC
Form 470* link at the top of your landing page.

For those of you who are filing the FCC Form 470 in EPC for the first time
– or for those applicants who need a reminder of the differences between
EPC and the legacy filing system – we are providing the following tips and
reminders:

*The FCC Form 470 must be filed online in EPC.*

There is no longer a paper version of the FCC Form 470. Any necessary
instructions are built into the online experience. There are user guides
available on the USAC website to help applicants complete their forms.
Before you submit your form, you can review and print a PDF version of your
draft form. You can then review the PDF and make any necessary edits before
the form is certified.

*Some information must be completed in your organization's profile in EPC
before you can file a program form.*

Your billed entity information – including address and contact information,
attributes for the schools in a school district or libraries in a library
system, and other pertinent data – is pulled into program forms that you
file from your organization's profile in EPC. You should review this
information for accuracy and make any necessary changes before you file
your form.

If you need help locating or creating a school in your school district or a
library in your library system, call the Client Service Bureau (CSB) at
888-203-8100 <(888)%20203-8100>. Consortia should also verify that their
members are featured in the consortium's profile before the consortium
certifies the FCC Form 470.

*If you issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) and/or RFP documents, they must
be uploaded to the FCC Form 470.*

If you are issuing an RFP and/or one or more RFP documents, you are
required to upload those documents to your FCC Form 470. We use "RFP" and
"RFP document" generically to refer to any bidding document that describes
your project and requested services in more detail than that provided in
the data entry fields on the FCC Form 470. An RFP document can be a formal
bidding document – for example, an Invitation for Bid (IFB) or Request for
Quote (RFQ) – or it could be any document issued as part of your
competitive bidding process to provide more information to potential
bidders. It is not sufficient for you to upload a document that contains a
link to another website where the RFP can be accessed (for example, a
procurement portal). The actual RFP itself (along with all subsequent
addendums) must be made publicly available through USAC's website by
uploading the RFP in EPC.

In addition, RFP documents issued *AFTER* an FCC Form 470 is certified and
posted *MUST* be uploaded to that certified FCC Form 470. Note that if you
did not add an RFP document to your original form before it was certified,
you cannot add an RFP document later – instead, to include an RFP document,
you must attach the document to a new FCC Form 470 and then certify that
form.

Remember to comply with all competitive bidding requirements, including the
requirement that applicants wait at least 28 days after the FCC Form 470
and/or RFP is posted to the USAC website before selecting a service
provider, executing any contracts for contracted services, or signing and
submitting an FCC Form 471.

To add an RFP document to a certified FCC Form 470:

   - From your organization's landing page, scroll down to the *FCC Forms*
   section and use the search function to locate your form.
   - Click the form nickname to open the form.
   - Choose *Related Actions* from the menu underneath the form nickname,
   then choose *Add an RFP Document*.
   - If you attached an RFP document to your FCC Form 470, click the *Choose
   File* button from the *Upload RFP* section, upload your RFP document,
   and then associate the document to the appropriate service request(s).
   Remember that you must upload the actual document.

*Applicants certify the form online before it is posted to the USAC
website.*

In EPC, the FCC Form 470 is not posted to the USAC website until it is
certified. If the user who creates the form does not also have the
necessary rights (permissions) to certify it, EPC will create a task for
users within the organization who do.

   - Users with partial rights to the FCC Form 470 can complete and edit
   the form but cannot certify the form.
   - Users with full rights to the FCC Form 470 can complete, edit, and
   certify the form in EPC.

*Your receipt notification will appear in your EPC News feed shortly after
you certify your form.*

USAC no longer issues paper FCC Form 470 Receipt Notification Letters
(RNLs). Instead, your RNL will appear in the *News* tab in your EPC account
a short time after you certify your form. Requests to correct certain
errors can be submitted through EPC by clicking *Related Actions* in the
form as described above.

*Service providers can view filed FCC Forms 470 either through EPC or
through the USAC website.*

EPC has a search and download function that will allow service providers
with accounts in EPC to search for certified FCC Forms 470.

Service providers can also view PDF versions of FY2018 FCC Forms 470 along
with any associated RFP documents from the View an FCC Form 470 (FY2016 and
later)
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page on the USAC website.

*Contact Us!*

If you need assistance, please contact the Client Service Bureau (CSB) at
888-203-8100 <(888)%20203-8100>

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