E-rate Portal Will Be Temporarily Offline Early November
The weeklong outage is for a major system upgrade.
USAC has announced that the E-rate User Portal (EPC, or E-rate Productivity Center) will be offline starting October 30th, 2023 to modernize the BEAR invoicing tool (FCC Form 472), and is expected to be back online November 7th.
The new feature will make reimbursement requests easier to submit by integrating the tool into EPC. The legacy BEAR invoicing system will be decommissioned during this time.
Schools and libraries (SL) should prioritize completing their 2023 and 2022 E-rate forms due 10/30/2023 as soon as possible. Read the full details here.
The E-rate Portal will be offline October 30th at 10pm MT/9pm PT — November 7th
Applicants will not be able to create the following forms during the 7-day outage:
Form 470 and RFPs (Competitive bidding)
Note: Applicants should seriously consider starting their bid requests before the end of the calendar year. For assistance or guidance, please contact dvogt@sde.idaho.gov
Form 472 (BEAR; Requesting reimbursement)
BEAR forms submitted prior to the planned outage will be processed 11/9/2023.
Form 486 (Annual CIPA certification)
Annual form that must be completed to receive reimbursements for the year.
Form 500 (For submitting changes to committed funding requests)
During this time, applicants will be able to use the Emergency Connectivity Fund portal.
Service providers will not be able to create the following forms during the 7-day outage:
Form 473 (Service Provider Annual Certification)
Form 474 (SPI; Service providers requesting reimbursement)
Get Ready For The New E-rate Billing System
Learn how to use the E-rate invoicing system at the official training webinar:
Wednesday, October 4 at 11am to 12pm MT / 10am to 11am PT:
Check and Verify User Permissions
When USAC migrated user permissions from SL Legacy systems to EPC, all users were provided with full rights permissions. Account Administrators should review all their user permissions and modify user permission rights as needed.
To add a new primary account administrator, call E-rate Customer Service for assistance at 888-203-8100
Other Questions About E-rate or Broadband Funding?
Schedule a Zoom call with me to discuss your school’s E-rate requirements, your Broadband needs, or similar funding opportunities.
Idaho’s Broadband Reimbursement Program has moved from the Idaho State Department of Education to the Idaho State Office of the Board of Education. See our new website here for information and resource: https://boardofed.idaho.gov/k-12-education/broadband-and-e-rate-services/