Last Chance to Update E-rate Data, FCC Seeks Comment, and More
The EPC Administrative window closes Monday, January 10th at 9:59pm (Mountain Time). Update your E-rate data soon! More details below.
The FCC is considering a way to fortify E-rate’s open, fair, and competitive bidding process. They seek comment by February 14th, 2022.
The Emergency Broadband Benefit is becoming a long-term program on 01/01/2022: The Affordable Connectivity Program. The program subsidizes Internet connectivity for low-income households.
Update Enrollment and/or Entity Data
The opportunity to update enrollment and entity data on your E-rate profile is soon coming to an end. The deadline to make changes until next year is Monday, January 10th, at 9:59pm (Mountain Time).
Enrollment data determines a school’s discount percentage (click here to see the discount matrix). Since enrollment data and NSLP data has been upended by the pandemic, schools have a few options regarding the data they report to E-rate:
Use data from Funding Years 2020 or 2021
USAC has confirmed that schools may use this data again for Funding Year 2022.
Submit updated enrollment data
If your data has changed and can provide a higher E-rate discount, you may submit the same data as submitted to ISEE for November 2021. This is the data I use first when validating
Submit current entity data for Category 2 budget calculating
USAC has confirmed that schools may use more recent data for their Category 2 budget calculation while also using FY2020 or FY2021 data to determine the overall discount percentage.
FCC Seeks Comment on E-rate Bidding Portal
The FCC seeks comment on improving transparency and efficiency in the competitive bidding process for the E-Rate program. The proposal would require bids for E- Rate services and equipment to be uploaded into a centralized document portal managed by USAC.
The deadline to submit comments is February 14th, 2022.
“We propose to require service providers to submit bids responsive to FCC Forms 470 through a bid portal managed by USAC, rather than by sending bids directly to the applicant. We anticipate that requiring service providers to submit bids for requested E-Rate services and equipment through a bidding portal will improve USAC’s and the Commission’s ability to ensure that all entities participating in the E-Rate program conduct a fair and open competitive bidding process.”
Read the full Notice of Proposed Rulemaking here:
Impact of Infrastructure Act to E-rate
The FCC also seeks comment regarding the future of E-rate and other Universal Service programs in light of the opportunities created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The deadline to submit comments is January 18th, 2022.
“How can we best coordinate the E-Rate program with the programs created by the Infrastructure Act to achieve our universal service goals, including ensuring high-speed broadband in schools and libraries?”
Subsidized Internet for Low-Income Households
The Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) Program will become the Affordable Connectivity Program, a new longer-term program, on December 31, 2021.
Households enrolled in the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program as of 12/31/21 will continue to receive their current monthly benefit until 3/1/22.
What's Changing?
The maximum monthly benefit will change from $50 per month to $30 per month for households not located on qualifying Tribal lands. The monthly benefit will remain at $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands.
Households have new ways to qualify for the Affordable Connectivity Program such as: receiving WIC benefits or having an income at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.
Households that qualified for the Emergency Broadband Benefit due to a substantial loss of income due to job loss or furlough since February 29, 2020 or by meeting the eligibility criteria for a participating provider's COVID-19 program will need to requalify for the Affordable Connectivity Program. These households will receive additional details about the steps they need to take from the program administrator (USAC) or their broadband provider, in January 2022, and will be given at least 30 days to respond. They will continue to receive their full EBB benefit until March 1, 2022.
This program transition was created by Congress as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The FCC is accepting comments on the implementation of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) through December 28. If you are interested in submitting reply comments, please visit the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). From ECFS, enter “21-450” in the “Proceeding(s)” field, and select “Affordable Connectivity Program” from the dropdown menu.
The November 18, 2021 Public Notice containing more information is available here.
The FCC also released additional guidance on ACP on November 26 and December 8.
Eligible households can continue to enroll in the EBB before 6:00 p.m. EST December 30. At that time the online program application will close and the paper application will be removed from the website.