September 14, 2026
FCC Announces 4Q26 Contribution Factor 42.0%
The FCC released a Public Notice, DA 26-946, announcing that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the fourth quarter of 2026 (October, November, December) will be .420 or 42.0 percent.
September 4, 2026
Payments Will Be Held for Service Providers Without an Active SAM.gov Registration and UEI – Effective September 8
All service providers who receive USF disbursements must have their current SAM.gov UEI on their FCC Form 498 and must have a valid bank account associated with their SAM.gov registration. Service providers who have not registered with SAM.gov or added their UEI to the FCC Form 498 should do so promptly. Once USAC transitions to SAM.gov banking information, service providers without a UEI on their FCC Form 498 can submit invoices, but their payments will be held until these steps are completed. If a payment is held, USAC will send an email to the remittance contact notifying them of the hold with the subject line “Action Required: Your Payment is on Hold.” For questions about a held payment, contact the USAC Customer Service Center at CustomerSupport@USAC.org.
SAM.gov requires users to renew their registration annually. The renewal process is conducted through the SAM.gov website. Once users complete their renewal, SAM.gov will inform USAC;service providers do not need to take any action with their FCC Form 498.Â
September 4, 2026
Transition to SAM.gov Banking Information
On September 8, 2026, USAC will start using SAM.gov banking information to remit payment for all Universal Service Fund (USF) invoices. Service providers who have an active SAM.gov registration and have added their Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) to the FCC Form 498 do not need to take any additional actions. All invoices paid after September 8 will be disbursed to the bank account associated with their SAM.gov registration.
For background about USAC’s requirement to use SAM.gov registration, see this USAC newsletter. To learn more about USAC’s transition to using SAM.gov payment data for USF invoices, visit USAC’s SAM.gov UEI Requirement website.
September 4, 2026
E-File Outage Planned for 9/4/26
E-File will be deploying changes to the 498 this evening to support the SAM.gov deployment with USAC. This will require us to bring down the system temporarily. The deployment starts at 8:00, and we expect it to take about 30 minutes. We apologize in advance for the inconvience.
August 10, 2026
USAC Postpones Transition to SAM.gov Banking Information
USAC will postpone the transition to SAM.gov banking information to perform additional testing and validation for a smooth stakeholder transition. Once a new transition date is determined, USAC will share that information.
August invoices will continue to be paid using USAC’s current process and the banking information included on the FCC Form 498. USAC will provide update in early September.
Prepare for the Coming Transition
All service providers should still promptly complete the SAM.gov registration process and add their active Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) to their FCC Form 498. Note: the SAM.gov registration process can take up to six weeks to complete.
After the transition, any service provider who does not have a completed SAM.gov registration and an active UEI on their FCC Form 498 will be able to submit USF program invoices but will not receive remittance until they complete the SAM.gov and UEI processes. For more information, visit USAC’s SAM.gov UEI Requirement webpage.
