Discounts on Bills

Q1. How do I know if my service provider will discount my bills, or if I need to complete a Form 472 (BEAR)?

In all cases, you must complete a Form 486 after you receive a Funding Commitment Decision Letter (FCDL) and after your services have started.

After you file the Form 486, you should contact your service provider and discuss whether you will be receiving discounted bills or applying for reimbursements on services for which your service provider will continue to bill you in full. Either method is acceptable to the SLD.

If your service provider will provide discounts on your bills, the service provider will file a Form 474, Service Provider Invoice Form. If you will pay for your services in full and request reimbursement for your E-rate discounted amount, you will file a Form 472, Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) Form. However, once you have chosen a method and the first invoice form has been filed with the SLD, that method must be used for the remainder of the Funding Year. It is therefore important that you contact your service provider to discuss how you will receive your discounts.

For more information about how to file the BEAR Form for reimbursements on services for which you have already paid, please refer to the Form 472 (BEAR) Filing Guidance in the Reference Area of this web site.

Q2. How does my service provider know how much to discount my bill?

Once the SLD receives your Form 486 identifying the actual Service Start Date, your service provider is notified by the SLD to begin billing the discount. If you will receive your discount directly on your bill, your service provider will begin to apply the percentage discount that was approved by the SLD to the services eligible for discount on your bill.

In order to apply discounts accurately (discounting the right account, only for eligible services, only at eligible facilities) your service provider may need additional information from you. Remember that your service provider cannot access your Form 471. You may want to share the Block 5 information with your service provider or your service provider may ask you to fill out an additional grid that provides similar information. In either event it is a good idea to discuss discounted bills with your service provider, so that you know when and how your bills will be discounted.

Q3. What if the discount on my bill is not the same discount percentage for which I was approved on my Funding Commitment Decision Letter?

Your service provider is instructed by the SLD to apply the discount to eligible services used by eligible entities. In many cases eligible services are bundled with ineligible services and/or services are being received jointly by eligible and ineligible entities. Your service provider, therefore, will likely determine a "composite" or "effective" discount for the accounts upon which you were committed discounts. For this reason, the actual discount that you receive on your monthly bill may differ from the approved discount percentage on your Funding Commitment Decision Letter.

Q4. What if I have filed my Form 486 and still have not received a discounted bill from my service provider?

Contact your service provider to verify that you have provided all necessary information to the service provider and that the service provider intends to apply your percentage discount to your bill.

If you have additional questions or need more information, please call the SLD Client Service Bureau at 888-203-8100.

Q5. What if the discount appeared on previous bills but now has stopped?

• Have you received the entire amount of your funding commitment in the form of discounts on your bills? If the answer is yes, this is why your discounts have stopped.
  
  To verify the amount of your funding commitment, you should refer to your Funding Commitment Decision Letter, and find the dollar amount of your "Funding Commitment Decision" for the Funding Request Number (FRN) associated with this service provider. If you have received more than one Funding Commitment Decision Letter relating to this FRN, refer to the most recent letter.

• Have you filed a Form 500 to cancel or reduce the FRN or to change the Contract Termination Date? If the answer is yes, this may be why your discounts have stopped.

If the answer to both questions is NO, contact your service provider to find out why you have stopped receiving discounts on your bills.