[Erate] E Rate Central News for the Week of June 12, 2006

[GANOE Sabrina]

E-Rate Central News for the Week of June 12, 2006

*	FY 2006 and FY 2005 Funding Status
*	New 15-Day PIA Response Procedures
*	FCC Application Remand List Posted
*	Form 470-Related Denial Appeals?

The E-Rate Central News for the Week is prepared by E-Rate Central.
E-Rate Central specializes in providing consulting, compliance, and
forms processing services to E-rate applicants and service providers.
To learn more about our services, please contact us by phone
(516-832-2880) or by e-mail <mailto:services at e-ratecentral.com>
(services at e-ratecentral.com).  Additional E-rate information is located
on the E-Rate Central Web site <http://www.e-ratecentral.com>
(http://www.e-ratecentral.com).

FY 2006 and FY 2005 Funding Status

Wave 8 for FY 2006 is scheduled to be released on June 13th for
approximately $32 million, again only for Priority 1 applications.
Cumulative national FY 2006 funding is now over $375 million.

Two appeal waves for FY 2005 were released on June 1st (designated A12)
and June 2nd (A13) for total incremental funding of about $4.6 million.
The term "appeal wave" is a bit misleading.  In addition to funding
resulting from successful appeals, the FCDLs sent in an appeal wave
include FRN splits.  The A12 wave deals specifically with
Katrina-related applicants whose discount rates were raised to 90% for
the post-hurricane months of this funding year.

New 15-Day PIA Response Procedures

Last week, the SLD revised its PIA inquiry procedures to encompass a
15-day response deadline, up from the previous 7-day deadline.  We
understand that PIA will send out automatic reminders if, with 7 days to
go, there has been no response to the initial inquiry.  If more than 15
days is required to respond, the applicant may request an extension.
Although the SLD seems to have tightened its extension request criteria
lately, we have found that PIA extensions will generally be granted if a
constructive dialogue has been established between the applicant and the
PIA reviewer.

The change to a longer initial response period, with a pre-deadline
warning, is in line with this year's Selective Review timetable (a
30-days deadline with a warning when only 9 days are left).

Extending the deadline from seven to fifteen days is nice, but there's a
downside.  Our concern is that the SLD has "trained" procrastinating
applicants to disregard the first deadline, knowing that an automatic
second deadline will be forthcoming.  Under the new procedure, the
mid-point warning may not be taken as seriously - particularly during
the summer vacation period.  If an applicant misses the 15-day deadline,
and doesn't specifically ask for and get an extension, USAC will act
unilaterally and funding will presumably be denied or reduced.  Bottom
line: Be careful to respond to PIA inquiries in full and timely manner.

FCC Application Remand List Posted

Applications affected by the FCC's Bishop Perry decision (see
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-54A1.doc) have
now been listed on the SLD Web site (see
http://www.usac.org/_res/documents/sl/pdf/FCC-06-54-GRO-Remand-Tracking-
060606.pdf?WT.mc_id=sl-newsbrief-20060609).  The list includes Form 471
Application Numbers for affected Form 471s which had been denied before
these numbers were assigned (applications that fail minimum processing
standards are rejected before Form 471 Application Numbers are
assigned).

At the moment, the SLD is focused on only the remanded applications
which, under the Order, are supposed to be processed within 60 days.
Applications that were not explicitly covered by the 196 appeals in the
FCC order, but which are subject to relief based on the Order, will be
determined and posted sometime later.

Based on calls from applicants, we know that the SLD is moving
expeditiously to contact affected applicants to begin the application
review.  Applicants who wish to have their remanded applications decided
by July 18th should try to provide any requested information quickly.
Applications for which the SLD is still awaiting information after the
60 days will still be processed, but perhaps without the same degree of
urgency.

Form 470-Related Denial Appeals?

Last month, to its credit, the SLD announced that it was reverting to
its previous review procedure regarding Form 470-related application
errors (see
http://www.universalservice.org/sl/tools/latest-news.aspx#051506).
Early in the FY 2006 application review process, PIA was denying funding
requests referencing incorrect Form 470 numbers without seeking
corrections from applicants.  Through the first four funding waves of FY
2006, this procedure led to 476 FRN denials - many of which apparently
represented simple errors that could have been easily corrected.

By reverting to its previous practice, PIA will henceforth contact
applicants who had provided incorrect Form 470s numbers.  While
announcing this change, the SLD indicated that it would proactively
"re-review" previously denied FY 2006 applications, reaching out to
affected applicants to get valid establishing Form 470 numbers, if
available.  So far, so good.

While we still expect the SLD to carry-out this re-review, the
procedural details and timing have yet to be announced (quite possibly
because the SLD has been distracted by the need to review the remanded
Bishop Perry applications, discussed above under a tight FCC-dictated
timetable).  The problem for applicants is that the initial appeal
deadlines for FY 2006 denials are fast approaching.  The deadline for
filing a Wave 1 denial appeal is only two weeks away.  If the SLD
ultimately re-reviews and reverses all the Form 470 related denials,
there would be no need to appeal.  But for now, that is an unknown.

Although we hate to recommend that applicants swamp the SLD with
appeals, we believe that it is only prudent, unless the SLD provides
timely and comforting information to the contrary, for an applicant to
file an appeal before its appeal deadline.  Given the SLD's own policy
statement on re-reviews of Form 470 denials - as well as similar FCC
guidance in the Bishop Perry decision - such an appeal need not be
extensive.  It requires little more than a reference to the denied
FRN(s), good applicant contact information, and a brief description of
the Form 470 number error.  One example of such an appeal that we have
already seen also included the following the following paragraph which
we believe accurately reflects the purpose and spirit of the appeal:

	We believe that this FRN denial may be addressed and reversed
under the revised Form 470-related procedures announced on the SLD Web
site on May 15, 2006
(http://www.universalservice.org/sl/tools/latest-news.aspx#051506), but
the applicant has not yet been so notified.  Because this was a Wave 1
denial, with an appeal window deadline later this month, this appeal is
being filed to preserve the applicant's rights.  If this denial is
reversed under the SLD new procedures, we will consider this appeal moot
and/or will formally withdraw it at USAC's request.

For a few applicants, it may be important to note that the promised SLD
re-review process applies only to FY 2006 Form 470-related denials.
Similar denials for FY 2005 applications are not covered.  The only
recourse for affected FY 2005 applicants is to appeal.

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Disclaimer: This newsletter may contain unofficial information on
prospective E-rate developments and/or may reflect E-Rate Central's own
interpretations of E-rate practices and regulations. Such information is
provided for planning and guidance purposes only. It is not meant, in
any way, to supplant official announcements and instructions provided by
either the SLD or the FCC.

Sabrina Ganoe
Oregon Department of Education 
Office of Assessment and Information Services 
255 Capitol St. N.E. 
Salem, Oregon 97310 
(503) 947-5858 
(503) 378-5156 fax 
sabrina.ganoe at state.or.us 
Messages to & from this e-mail address may be made available to the
public under Oregon Law

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