New Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) Guidance on Correctable Errors
On May 19, 2006, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an order (FCC 06-54) known as the Bishop Perry Order. In this Order, the FCC waived its relevant rules and granted the appeals related to failure to comply with Minimum Processing Standards, failure to timely file an FCC Form 471 or failure to timely file certifications related to an FCC Form 470. Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) has sent Remand Acknowledgment Letters to the directly affected applicants, and Program Integrity Assurance (“PIA”) has already begun reviewing the affected applications.
On Monday, July 10, 2006, USAC posted information about how it will implement the FCC’s broad guidance for correcting clerical or ministerial errors. It provided a list of what USAC has done and will be doing; what applicants need to do to get such errors corrected; and a list of correctable errors. It is recommended that all E-rate participants read the new guidance carefully — it may provide an opportunity to fix mistakes made previously and to receive more funding for this year or future years.
Here are twelve highlights.
1. The ability to correct mistakes is generally limited to Funding Year (FY) 2006 and subsequent year funding requests. USAC will not reopen prior year issues, although the new guidelines will apply to any prior-year application or appeal that is still pending.
2. An applicant’s ability to correct mistakes is currently limited to the Form 470 and Form 471 errors. While there had been some language in the original Order about the Form 486, it was deleted by a later Erratum. The Order provided no guidance about correcting clerical or ministerial errors on other forms.
3. Mistakes can be corrected on a FY 2006 Form 470 or Form 471 even if a Funding Commitment Decision Letter (FCDL) has been issued and no appeal was filed within the 60-day appeal window.
4. USAC has provided specific guidance for submitting error corrections (see http://www.universalservice.org/sl/tools/reference/what-applicants-need-to-do.aspx).
5. Timing is critical. Applicants have 20 days from the date of notification from USAC (15 days to respond, plus an assumed mail delivery time of an additional 5 days) to provide USAC with notices of allowable corrections. For applicants who are currently in contact and working with PIA, the clock started on Friday, July 14, 2006 the date on which USAC mailed out a general notice about these new procedures to some 24,000 FY 2006 applicants. For these applicants, the deadline to correct mistakes is Wednesday, August 2, 2006.
For applicants away from the office, the clock will start when the contact information is updated or when the applicant begins to work with PIA again and is advised of the deadline. If the applicant is away for the summer and has already been sent an FCDL, the clock will start on September 12, 2006, — shortly after the end of the summer deferral period.
6. Since the FY 2006 filing window is long closed, Form 470 corrections for FY 2006 are limited to those types of mistakes that would not have affected the procurement process. For example, contact information can be corrected as long as the change does not circumvent competitive bidding requirements. Clerical errors in the list of Billed Entities in Item 17 can be corrected as long as the change is not a significant departure from the scope of the original list. And certifications for posted Forms 470 that were not submitted can now be submitted to USAC.
7. The list of errors that can be corrected on FY 2006 Form 471s is broader. In a significant departure from previous practice, the list even includes some corrections to Blocks 4 and 5 that would result in increased funding request amounts.
8. If a Funding Request Number (FRN) was denied because the wrong Form 470 was cited in the Block 5 of an application, the Form 471 error correction procedures should be used. Contrary to an earlier announcement, USAC announced on Friday that it would not be reaching out to such applicants to correct these errors; it will be up to the affected applicants to identify the problems and proactively correct them.
9. If an applicant files for an error correction on an FRN that got partial funding, the Form 486 must still be submitted within 120 days of the original FCDL date or actual service start date (whichever is later) or funding may be reduced.
10. For FY 2007 and later years, this new guidance means that Form 471 Minimum Processing Standard failures will not be fatal. USAC will notify applicants and allow 15 days to correct the forms.
11. The close of the Form 471 filing window will no longer be the deadline for Form 470 or 471 certifications. If certifications are not filed (but an otherwise complete form is filed by the deadline), USAC will notify applicants who will then have 15 days to submit the certifications.
12. While not directly related to fixing clerical errors, the new USAC guidance notes that applicants will have an opportunity to remove entities post-commitment for purposes of narrowing the applicability of the 2-in-5 Rule for Internal Connections.
* AEWG - Arkansas E-rate Work Group