Surviving the USAC EPC Portal Attend this session to share and compare experiences from the 2016-17 online Form 471 filing process. Receive highlights from the first FCC/USAC fall training session in DC. Friday, October 7, 2016; 1:30-2:15pm Tom Rolfes, Education I.T. Manager Office of the Chief Information Officer and Nebraska Information Technology Commission 402.471.7969 tom.rolfes@nebraska.gov

Surviving the USAC EPC Portal FY 2016 Filing Process All C1 & C2 Applications that were properly filed will be funded C1 fiber applications were funded for the first time As of 9/26/2016, Over 27,000 applications, (60% of total applications), and over $600 million of funding approvals have been processed Of NEBRASKA’s 1,362 FRNs 14 Cancelled (1%) 6 Denied (.5%) 1,089 Funded (80%) [$6.29 million out of $12.3 million; 51%] 253 Pending (18.5%) Many FRNs were denied nationally because of misidentified services and inclusion of ineligible charges Surviving the USAC EPC Portal

Surviving the USAC EPC Portal FY 2016 Filing Process FRN Status Tool just launched! https://data.usac.org/publicreports/FRN/Status/FundYear Search by: Funding Year State BEN CRN SPIN Service Type Billed Entity Type Form 471 Application Number FRN Wave # Surviving the USAC EPC Portal

Surviving the USAC EPC Portal EPC Fundamentals My Landing Page--Quick Menu (upper right corner) Funding Request Report FCC Form 470 FCC Form 471 FCC Form 486 Appeal (New!) Manage Users Manage Organizations USAC Website Contact Us Help SPIN Change (Soon!) Service Substitution (Soon!) Form 500 (Soon!) Surviving the USAC EPC Portal

Surviving the USAC EPC Portal EPC Fundamentals Funding Commitment Decision Letter (FCDL) The Form 471 contact person will receive an e-mail message EPC Landing Page > Notifications > FCDL/2016/Wave# Generate Notification Go to EPC News Feed Print to PDF and archive copies Make changes and corrections, if needed Submit the Form 486 no later than 120 days after the FCDL or Service Start Date, whichever is later; Report CIPA Compliance Status Invoice USAC to receive funding Surviving the USAC EPC Portal

Surviving the USAC EPC Portal EPC Fundamentals Form 498 Direct Payment Status Nebraska has 494 Billed Entities Only 124 (25%) have been approved for Form 498 disbursements If a school, school district, library, library system, ESU or consortium ever hope to receive a Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR method), then a Form 498 I.D. is REQUIRED The only Billed Entities not affected by the Form 498 will be those that ONLY receive discounts on their vendor invoices (SPI method) Still needing to apply for a Form 498 I.D.? http://www.usac.org/sl/tools/news-briefs/preview.aspx?id=712 Surviving the USAC EPC Portal

Surviving the USAC EPC Portal Looking ahead to FY 2017 Minimal changes to EPC expected Minimal changes to Form 471 expected Minimal changes to Eligible Services List (published 9/12/2016) USAC pledges to hire more people to expedite application processing UPDATE Entity Profile Data between late November, 2016 and Jan. 1, 2017 Connectivity Questions NSLP & Student Population Data ONE Form 471 Filing Window “Rumored” NSLP Data “Lock Down” in early January Normal 75-80 day filing window Opening in early January Closing in late March Surviving the USAC EPC Portal

Surviving the USAC EPC Portal Looking ahead to FY 2017 Eligible Services List, FY 2017-18 https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-16-1023A1.pdf Defines “campus” as “the geographically contiguous grounds where instructional buildings of a single eligible school are located”. Category 2 is now defined as “the services necessary to transport or distribute broadband within one or more instructional buildings of a single school campus” E.g. Two buildings of the same school across the street from each other are now considered Category 2 E.g. A single school with multiple campuses miles apart are considered Category 1 Category 1 is now defined as “the Wide Area Network (WAN) connecting multiple eligible schools or libraries” E.g. Whether two schools are in the same building or two schools physically adjacent to each other, the WAN costs are Category 1 Surviving the USAC EPC Portal

Surviving the USAC EPC Portal Looking ahead to FY 2017 The FCC is soliciting comments on Petitions for Waiver to allow subsidized broadband networks to be accessed by students at home, after hours for educational purposes: Charlotte County Public Schools, Halifax County Schools; Virginia Using TV White Space transmission to share the schools’ Internet Boulder Valley School District Sharing school Internet with an affordable housing complex Comments are due November 3, 2016 Reply Comments are due December 5, 2016 Surviving the USAC EPC Portal

Surviving the USAC EPC Portal Questions?? Tom Rolfes, Education I.T. Manager Office of the CIO/NITC 402.471.7969 tom.rolfes@nebraska.gov SuAnn Witt, State E-rate Coordinator Nebraska Department of Education 402.471.2085 suann.witt@Nebraska.gov Surviving the USAC EPC Portal