E-Rate Season Begins Jan 17th — Bus Wi-Fi Rules Are Here
E-Rate Season Begins Jan 17th — How to Prepare
In this newsletter:
-IMPORTANT DATES
-What’s Officially Eligible Under Bus Wi-Fi
-How To Prepare a Form 470 for Bus Wi-Fi
Read USAC’s 12/15 newsletter here.
Read the FCC’s 2024 Eligible Services List here.
IMPORTANT DATES
► Monday, January 15: Close of EPC Administrative Window.
E-Rate profiles are “unlocked” until January 15th so that schools may update their enrollment data before the application window. This data determines their discount percentage, and schools are expected to validate their data each application cycle. Note that discount percentages for libraries are based on the discount percentage of their nearest school district.
NSLP/Income survey data should be updated each year and based on March 2023 ISEE data (contact me if you need to use other data).
CEP data does not need to be updated unless you have started a new base year.
If schools have increased their student population significantly since 2021, they may be interested in adjusting their Category 2 budget to reflect the increase. Jan. 15th is the deadline to update your student numbers and request the adjustment. Please watch this official training video to learn more about requesting an adjustment.
► January 17 — March 27: Form 471 Application Window
To fund services one-time hardware costs billed between 7/1/2024 - 6/30/2025, the Form 471 application must be completed before the window closes in March. Eligible contracts must be competitively bid for by posting a Form 470 and waiting at least 28-days before selecting and signing a contract award.
► February 28: Last date to post Form 470 (Competitive Bidding)
Any eligible funding request must come from a Form 470 competitive bid, which requires a 28-day waiting period before signing a contract. If you need to do this this year, It is strongly recommended you start this process as soon as possible, or to consider waiting for the next bidding cycle (applicants can start as early as July 1 of each year).
What’s Officially Eligible Under Bus Wi-Fi
The FCC has updated the Eligible Services List to include hardware and services for Bus Wi-Fi, noting that these are all subject to change in future funding years.
► Here are the official changes:
Bus Wi-Fi hardware and mobile wireless services under Category 1 Internet Access.
Eligible: installation, and “equipment needed to make this service functional (e.g., antennas, routers, modems).”
Not Eligible (at this time): maintenance and operation services
Will require Form 470 competitive bidding (see below).
Limits on how many connections per bus may be funded (paragraph 10):
Urban applicants: E-Rate will fund service for one cellular service provider per bus. This means schools may have different service providers for different buses, but E-Rate will only fund one connection per bus.
Rural applicants: may request funding for more than one provider per bus.
Applies only to buses that are primarily used to transport students to and from school, meaning the following are excluded (paragraph 11):
Occasionally-used chartered buses (e.g., used for school field trips)
Municipal and city buses generally used for the transport of non-students
Other types of school-owned, leased, or contracted vehicles (e.g., vans and cars)
Service is subject to E-Rate rules and can only be enabled for educational purposes. The ESL notes that E-Rate funded bus hotspot services should not be enabled for non-educational activities.
► Other updates in the 2024 ESL
No new firewall hardware or services have been added to the ESL due to the development of the pilot program.
Clarification that “the software necessary to operate or maintain Category One network equipment is eligible.”
New note: “Consulting fees not related to the installation and configuration of eligible components are ineligible.”
How to Prepare a Form 470 for Bus Wi-Fi
To request bids for either services only or services and equipment to provide Wi-Fi on school buses on the FCC Form 470, include “Bus Wi-Fi” in the Form Nickname field, and select “Category 1 — Data Transmission and/or Internet Access.”
An RFP is required: You should include basic information needed for a vendor to provide a response to your request for wireless school bus service and/or equipment, including the number of buses being outfitted or whether the applicant is seeking service only for existing equipment. You are also strongly encouraged to provide geographic location/route information of the buses along with the service requirements for the bus route(s).
Narrative: “Applicant seeks bids for wireless school bus service and (if applicable) associated equipment to make the service functional to provide Wi-Fi. Reference the associated “RFP” document for additional information.” You can insert additional text to this as needed for your situation.
Add New Service Request. When you create your new service request, you will need to select the following EPC Guiding Statements in sequential order:
I seek bids for internet access and/or data transmission service.
I seek bids for Internet access and data transmission service (provided over any combination of transmission medium, e.g., fiber-only networks, fiber/non-fiber hybrid networks, or non-fiber networks such as cable, DSL, copper, satellite, or microwave).
I seek bids for data plans or wireless adapters (Air Cards) for mobile devices for commercial wireless service for a school or library that does not have an existing broadband internal connections.
After you select the guiding statements, you will fill in the details such as the quantity (i.e., the number of bus Wi-Fi connections) and entities (number of schools with buses that are receiving services), minimum and maximum bandwidth speed/capacity and whether you are also seeking equipment, installation, activation, or initial configuration of the service.
Once the FCC Form 470 and document(s) with additional detail about your school bus Wi-Fi request are posted, you must wait the required 28-day waiting period before selecting service provider(s) and entering into contract(s).