1. An Introduction to the Schools and Libraries Program
E-rate 101

2. TOPICS OF DISCUSSION I. Program Overview and History II. Eligibility
Introduction to Web Portals
Discounts
Categories of Service & Budgets
Process
Reimbursement

3. Craig Davis is the VP of the Schools and Libraries Program
VOCABULARY
FCC: Federal Communications Commission.
Independent agency that oversees E-rate.
Rule Makers.
USAC: Universal Service Administrative Company.
Not-For-Profit Company that administers E-rate.
Processes Applications.
USF: Universal Service Fund.
Pool of funds that finance FCC Telecommunication Service Programs.
Fueled by service provider/consumer fees & tariffs.
USAC reports to the FCC
Craig Davis is the VP of the Schools and Libraries Program

4. Telecommunications Act of 1996
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Telecommunications Act of 1996
On February 8, 1996 the Telecommunications Act is signed by Bill Clinton
Title II, Section 254 of the Act directs the FCC to provide schools and libraries with discounted telecommunications services
The FCC designates USAC to manage distribution of E-rate funds
The program begins on January 1998
Congress > FCC > USAC

5. THE PROGRAM $$$
Currently, there is $3.99 billion of support in the entire program
$1 Billion is set aside for internal connections (Cat 2)
The money comes from the Universal Service Fund, which is funded by a tax applied to telecommunication service providers & consumers

6. VOCABULARY
School: Entity as defined by “No Child Left Behind Act” of 2001
Elementary Schools, Secondary Schools
Library: Entity as defined by “Library Services and Technology Act”.
Public, Elementary/Secondary School, Academic, Research
Consortia: Group of Entities that apply together
NIF: Non-Instructional Facilities
IE. Administrative Buildings
It is possible to have a consortia of consortiums
We use the Master School Identification Database to identify schools

7. WHO IS ELIGIBLE? Determined under state law.
Elementary and Secondary Schools
nonprofit institutional day or residential school
public elementary charter school
provides elementary/secondary education
Does not include Education beyond grade 12
Determined under state law.
Libraries
Completely Separate budget from schools
Public or a Private Library deemed eligible by the state
Must be eligible for assistance from a State Library Administrative Agency

8. WHO IS ELIGIBLE? Non-Traditional Elementary and Secondary Head Starts
Adult Education
Juvenile Justice
ECT.
Educational Service Agencies
ESU
BOCES
ECT
School Residential Facilities
Tribal Land Schools
Schools serving Children with Medical needs

9. CONSORTIA
Eligible entities that band together to aggregate demand and negotiate lower prices
Great option for smaller entities or newer applicants
Applicants apply together. They are able to share expertise and knowledge

10. Requests for reimbursement are submitted to a legacy system
VOCABULARY
EPC: E-rate Productivity Center
USAC’s online portal where applications, requests, and applicant information is submitted.
Invoicing Portal: Separate online
USAC portal used to request reimbursement.
Requests for reimbursement are submitted to a legacy system

11. https://portal.usac.org/suite/
EPC
On EPC you will:
File most program forms
Maintain a list of related entities
Add additional users and assign permissions
Call Client Service Bureau at call 1(888) to set up an account

12. Vocabulary NSLP: National School Lunch Program
Provides free or reduced lunches to students. Used to determine economic need.
CEP: Community Eligibility Provision
Alternate method of determining economic need using NSLP data and a national multiplier.
EPC Profile: This is where your discount percentage is calculated. Individual schools and facilities are listed under “My Entities”
We maintain the valid file: a pre-validated list of NSLP Data
School districts share NSLP ratings

13. 80% Discount 50% NSLP OutPut Total Enrolled Total Free Lunches
Total reduced Lunches
NSLP Percentage
Students
100 20 30
50%
80%
Discount
50% NSLP
OutPut

14. How Discounts Work
Remember Consortia file on one application. They calculate their discount as a simple average.
Consortia are the only entities that can get a discount that is not on the matrix.
On a form 471, the discount for that application is based on the members of the consortium that share the services on that application.

15. NSLP eligibility is determined by family income
How Discounts Work
NSLP:
Actual Eligible Student Counts
Federally Approved Alternative Mechanism
CEP:
% of Directly Certified Students multiplied by 1.6
CEP Numbers can be used for 4 years
The CEP Multiplier changes on occasion
NSLP eligibility is determined by family income
If your CEP numbers rise or fall during the 4 year cycle, you can use the higher numbers.

16. How Discounts Work District NSLP:
Library discount is determined by the percentage of students eligible for NSLP in the designated district.
The designated district is determined by the location of the main library outlet.
In the past, libraries used an average of all districts where they have outlets.

17. Vocabulary
Category One: Services that support broadband services connectivity
Category Two: Services that transmit connectivity within an entity
Category 2 services have a maximum discount of 85%
After FY , voice services will be completely phased out

18. Category One Fiber (Lit and Dark) OC-1, OC-3, OC-12, OC-n
Wireless Service (e.g. microwave)
Satellite Services
DS-1, DS-2, DS-3
Ethernet
T-1, T-3, Fractional T-1
Self-Provisioned Network
Frame Relay
SMDS
Cable Modem
DSL
ATM
Telephone Dialup
Broadband over Power Lines
ISDN
MPLS
There is no budget for these. You get what you request
Lit Fiber: Vendor supplies fiber and lighting electronics
Dark Fiber: Vendor supplies fiber, you are responsible for lighting electronics

19. Category Two: Internal Connections
Access points
Cabling
Caching
Firewalls
Switches
Routers
Racks
UPS
Wireless LAN Controllers
Support Software
Improvements, upgrades and software necessary to support eligible broadband internal connections components
Functionalities listed here that can be virtualized in the cloud, and equipment that combines eligible functionalities are also eligible.
This includes the Wifi that you broadcast so users can connect

20. Category Two
Managed Internal Broadband Services (MIBS)
e.g. Managed Wi-Fi
Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections (BMIC)
Services provided by a third party for the operation, management, and/or monitoring
of eligible broadband internal connections components.
Basic maintenance of internal connections ensures the necessary and continued operation of eligible internal connection components at eligible locations.
MIBS: Asking a company to oversee your internal connections
ESL: Eligible services list. Each year during the summer, the FCC puts out an ESL draft and the FCC accepts comments. Then they post the ESL sometime in Fall

21. School C2 Budgets
$ per student over 5 years
Pre-discount funding floor of $9, per school over 5 years
C2 funds are pre-discount. (an 80% school essential receives $120 per student)
No budget for Non-instructional facilities (NIFs) – including school NIFs with classrooms and administrative buildings.
Budgets are recalculated every year. Increases in student counts means an increase in budget. A decrease in student counts means a decrease in budget.
If your budget is spent, but your student count drops, you are not required to pay back those funds.

22. Library C2 Budgets $2.35 per square foot.
$5.12 per square foot for large urban populations of 250,000+.
Pre-discount funding floor of $9, per school over 5 years
Book Mobile C2 budget is also determined by square footage, and is typically eligible for the $9,200 minimum.

23. TYPE OF CONNECTION
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding? Definition of campus: A "campus" is defined as the geographically contiguous grounds where the instructional buildings of a single eligible school or the non-administrative buildings of a single eligible library are located.
usac.org/sl/tools/news-briefs/preview.aspx?id=732
A single school may have multiple campuses if it has instructional buildings located on grounds that are not geographically contiguous. Similarly, a single library may have multiple campuses if it has non-administrative buildings located on grounds that are not geographically contiguous.
Different schools or libraries located on the same grounds do not comprise a single campus for the purposes of the E-rate program. The portion of the grounds occupied by the instructional building(s) for each school is the campus for that school. Similarly, the portion of the grounds occupied by the non-administrative building(s) for each library is the campus for that library.
"Geographically contiguous" grounds are grounds that are not physically separated.

24. TYPE OF CONNECTION
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding? Definition of annex: If a school has more than one location separated by a public right-of-way, but all of those locations together are considered one school by the state, those additional locations are annexes of that school.
For the purpose of the Category Two budget calculation, that school uses the total student counts for the school and its annexes combined.
Similarly, if a library has more than one location separated by a public right-of-way, but all of these locations together are considered a single library by the state library administrative agency, those additional locations are annexes of that library. They are associated only with that library, they do not have an entity number, and they share the Category Two budget of that single library. For the purpose of the Category Two budget calculation, that library uses the total square footage for the library and its annexes combined.
In the past, we required each separate location to get its own entity number, especially for invoicing purposes because there would be different service delivery addresses. For FY2016, if these locations fit the definition of annexes above, proceed as follows:
Your account administrator can go to the landing page, click the name of the school or library with annexes, choose "Related Actions" and then "Manage Annexes." Follow the prompts to create an annex.
We strongly suggest that you do not close or inactivate the entity from the previous year. That way there will not be any issues with invoices that have not yet been submitted for those years.
usac.org/sl/tools/news-briefs/preview.aspx?id=670

25. Doesn’t look like a school…

26. TYPE OF CONNECTION Scenario:
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding?
Scenario:
Different schools on the same campus. Cat 1 or Cat 2?

27. TYPE OF CONNECTION Category One Scenario:
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding?
Scenario:
Different schools on the same campus. Cat 1 or Cat 2?
Category One

28. TYPE OF CONNECTION Scenario:
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding?
Scenario:
Single school with three NIFs across a right away? Cat 1 or Cat 2?

29. TYPE OF CONNECTION Category Two Scenario:
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding?
Scenario:
Single school with three NIFs across a right away? Cat 1 or Cat 2?
Category Two

30. TYPE OF CONNECTION Scenario:
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding?
Scenario:
Different schools on the same campus but with a right away separating one of the schools? Cat 1 or Cat 2?

31. TYPE OF CONNECTION Category One Scenario:
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding?
Scenario:
Different schools on the same campus but with a right away separating one of the schools? Cat 1 or Cat 2?
Category One

32. TYPE OF CONNECTION Scenario:
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding?
Scenario:
Same school but NIF is located three miles off campus? Cat 1 or Cat 2?

33. TYPE OF CONNECTION Category One Scenario:
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding?
Scenario:
Same school but NIF is located three miles off campus? Cat 1 or Cat 2?
Category One

34. TYPE OF CONNECTION Scenario:
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding?
Scenario:
Single school with three separate NIFs? Cat 1 or Cat 2?

35. TYPE OF CONNECTION Category Two Scenario:
Is this connection eligible for Category One (WAN) or Category Two (LAN) funding?
Scenario:
Single school with three separate NIFs? Cat 1 or Cat 2?
Category Two

36. Vocabulary FCC Form 470: Competitive Bidding Form
Formal request for vendor response
FCC Form 471: Application Form
Formal funding request for services outlined in 470
FCDL: Funding Commitment Decision Letter
Notification sent to applicant detailing amount approved
The 470 process includes an RFP if applicable
FCDLs are delivered on EPC and via postage

37. Respond to compliance questions
General Flow of E-rate
Organize
Bid
Apply
Prepare Documents
Access Needs
File 470
28 Day Bid Period
Choose Vendor
File 471
Invoice
Review
Service Delivery
Reimburse-ment
Respond to compliance questions
FCDL

38. (Competitive bidding)
The E-rate Year
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
FCC Form 470
(Competitive bidding)
PIA Review
FCC Form 471
(Application)
July 2017 – June 2018
Invoicing

39. 472 & 474 are submitted on the legacy system
Vocabulary
FCC Form 472 (BEAR): Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement Invoicing method.
Filed by applicant after services are paid in full
FCC Form 474 (SPI): Service Provider Invoice
filed by service provider after applicant is billed for non-discounted portion of service
FCC Form 498: Process for submitting bank information for deposit of reimbursement funds.
472 & 474 are submitted on the legacy system
472’s are typically filed annually, but can technically be filed after paying the invoice

40. BEAR in mind, you have 120 days after last day of service to invoice… otherwise you suffer the GRIZZLY consequence.
Then you
request!
Cash Reimbursement

41. The SPI Can you receive a credit before an FCDL?
Credits can be delayed for months! This message will self destruct in 5…
The SPI
First, Service Provider delivers discounted invoice
Then, Service Provider invoices USAC
Invoice Credit