January 17, 2025
FCC Releases California Wildfires Relief Order
On January 16, 2025, the FCC released Order DA 25-63 waiving certain rules and deadlines to provide relief to victims located in areas of California that are affected by the spread of wildfires and straight-line winds California Wildfires.
January 8, 2025
Eligible Services E-Rate Question & Answer (Q&A) Session
On January 16, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), E-Rate subject matter experts will provide an overview of FY2025 E-Rate eligible services for applicants and service providers. This webinar is open to all experience levels. Please review the pre-requisites PRIOR to the webinar:
Register Here
December 18, 2024
FY2023 Invoicing Reminders
There are two important invoice deadlines for FY2023 recurring and non-recurring services coming up early in 2025. We are reminding you now to take the necessary steps to file and certify your invoices (for non-recurring services) on or before these deadlines or request a one-time 120-day invoicing deadline extension (for recurring services).
The deadlines are generally:
- January 28, 2025 for FY2023 non-recurring services. Applicants and service providers must certify their invoices or ask for an invoice deadline extension by this date.
- February 25, 2025 for FY2023 recurring services, if the applicant or service provider requested and received an invoice deadline extension of the original October 28, 2024 invoice deadline. Applicants and service providers must certify their invoices by this date, as USAC cannot grant a second invoice deadline extension.
Applicants and service providers who have not completed the invoicing process for their FY2023 recurring services should gather the customer bills and other documents now that they will need to accurately invoice USAC.
Regardless of the invoicing mode, service providers must file their FCC Form 473 (Service Provider Annual Certification (SPAC) Forms) in EPC for FY2023 before any invoicing can occur. You can verify this by locating the record for your service provider in the E-Rate Service Provider Download tool. The funding years for which the service provider has filed a SPAC Form are listed in the FCC Form 473 SPAC Filed column. See Module 2: File and FCC Form 473 in the EPC invoicing for Service Providers learning module.
If you are a service provider filing an FCC Form 474 (Service Provider Invoice (SPI) Form), you must have billed the applicant for its non-discount share. There is a presumption that your customer (the applicant) will pay your bill within 90 days.
If you are an applicant filing an FCC Form 472 (Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) Form):
- File and certify an FCC Form 498 if you have not already done so. You must have certified – and USAC must have reviewed and approved – an FCC Form 498. Be sure to follow up with the required documentation (canceled check, bank statement, or similar document) that verifies your bank account information. Call USAC at (888) 641-8722 and choose option 4 (contributors) if you have questions.
- You must have paid the service provider in full for the cost of the services.
- You must have filed an FCC Form 486 to notify USAC that services have started.
- Make sure your service providers have completed their FCC Form 473 (Service Provider Annual Certification (SPAC) Forms) for FY2023 as noted above.
Here are some resources for additional assistance in filing these forms:
Applicants
Service Providers
