February 2002 Announcements

Please click on the topic below to view the most recent announcements:

It has come to the attention of the SLD that some service providers may be using applicants' e-mail addresses accessible from searches of Forms 470 posted on the SLD web site to send out group messages unrelated to the applicants' Form 470 requests for services.

Applicants and contact persons provide their e-mail addresses on FCC Forms 470 to facilitate contact on issues pertaining to their requests for funding. Service providers interested in responding to Requests For Proposals or submitting bids for services listed on posted Forms 470 can also use these e-mail addresses to contact the Form 470 applicants.

SLD strongly discourages service providers and others, however, from using these e-mail addresses for improper purposes, including broadcasting unsolicited e-mail messages. SLD may investigate instances of improper use and take appropriate action.

Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) for Wave 15 of Funding Year 4 (the Funding Year beginning July 1, 2001) that would have normally been issued on February 22, 2002 will be issued on or after March 1, 2002.

There are two reasons for this timing for Wave 15. First, applicants whose FCDLs are dated on or after March 1, 2002 (including applicants in Wave 15) have an additional year - until September 30, 2003 - to complete the delivery and installation of non-recurring services. Support for recurring services, however, is available only for services provided through June 30, 2002.

Second, this additional time will allow the SLD an opportunity to review more applications and complete funding decisions on those applications. If enough funding decisions can be completed, it is possible that the final funding threshold for Internal Connections can be established and Wave 15 will become the last regular wave of funding commitments for Funding Year 4.

Even if Wave 15 is the last regular wave for Funding Year 4, additional commitments will continue to be made as funding decisions are completed on any remaining applications still under review. Letters will be sent to those applicants who have not yet been issued an FCDL in FY4 to notify them that their application is still under review. These letters will only be sent to those applicants whose properly completed applications were received or postmarked within the FY4 Form 471 application filing window.

In an earlier What's New posting, we told you that we would notify you when the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) on the review of certain rules governing the schools and libraries support mechanism was published in the Federal Register. The NPRM appears in the Federal Register for today, February 19, 2002, and this publication starts the period during which interested parties can file comments with the FCC on the NPRM.

Comments on the NPRM are due on or before April 5, 2002, which is 45 days after the date of publication. Reply comments are due on or before May 6, 2002, which is 75 days after the date of publication.

For more information, including the complete text of the NPRM and the instructions for filing comments on paper or electronically, please refer to the What's New posting FCC Releases NPRM on Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism (1/29/02).

Funding Commitment Decision Letters for Wave 14 of Funding Year 4 (the Funding Year beginning July 1, 2001) will be issued today. We expect data on this wave to be available in the Funding Commitments area of this web site on February 11, 2002.

In this wave, the SLD will be committing over $207 million in discounts to schools and libraries. This wave marks the first time in Funding Year 4 that the SLD will fund Internal Connections funding requests at the 87% discount level. Funding requests for Internal Connections below the 85% discount level will continue to be denied due to insufficient funds; uncertainty exists about requests at the 85% and 86% discount levels.