August 2004 Announcements

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

USAC has been directed by the FCC to move to government accounting standards by October 1, 2004, and this has raised potential budget authority issues that may impact USAC. As a result, SLD has not issued FCDLs for any Funding Year since August 3, 2004, and will be temporarily suspending further issuance of such letters. USAC is working with the FCC to resolve these issues and, once that happens, SLD will resume issuing commitment letters. In the meantime, SLD is continuing to review applications so that, when the matter is resolved, we will be in a position to issue FCDLs. USAC expects the issue to be resolved in the near future.

On August 13, 2004, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Public Notice (FCC 04-200) establishing the comment period for the Funding Year 2005 Eligible Services List.

Comments on the draft Eligible Services List, which is attached to the Public Notice, are due to the FCC on or before August 23, 2004. Reply comments are due to the FCC on or before August 30, 2004. For information on filing comments with the FCC, please refer to the Public Notice.

This proceeding is limited to determining what specific services are eligible under the FCC’s current rules; it is not intended to be a vehicle for changing any eligibility rules.

Forms 472, 473 and 474 will be undergoing a revision process during the next several months. In order to minimize confusion that might result from changing form versions twice in a short period of time, we are taking down the Form 472 dated February 2004 and the Form 474 dated January 2004.

Until the form revision process is complete, please continue to use the versions of Forms 472, 473 and 474 currently posted on the Forms Page of this web site.

On July 30, 2004, the FCC released its Order on Reconsideration and Fourth Report and Order (FCC 04-181) that addresses several issues related to recovery of funds disbursed in violation of program rules. This order will become effective thirty (30) days after publication in the Federal Register.

Following are direct quotes from the Order addressing these issues:

Direction of recovery actions. …[R]ecovery actions should be directed to the party or parties that committed the rule or statutory violation in question. …[I]n many instances, this will likely be the school or library, rather than the service provider. …This revised recovery approach shall apply on a going forward basis to all matters for which USAC has not yet issued a demand letter as of the effective date of this order, and to all recovery actions currently under appeal to either USAC or [the FCC]. [The FCC] do[es] not intend to modify any recovery action in which the service provider has satisfied the outstanding obligation or for which USAC has already issued an initial demand letter. (para. 10)

[The FCC] direct[s] USAC to make the determination … to whom recovery should be directed in individual cases. In determining to which party recovery should be directed, USAC shall consider which party was in a better position to prevent the statutory or rule violation, and which party committed the act or omission that forms the basis for the statutory or rule violation. For instance, the school or library is likely to be the entity that commits an act or omission that violates [the FCC’s] competitive bidding requirements, [the FCC’s] requirement to have necessary resources to make use of the supported services, the obligation to calculate properly the discount rate, and the obligation to pay the appropriate nondiscounted share. On the other hand, the service provider is likely to be the entity that fails to deliver supported services within the relevant funding year, fails to properly bill for supported services, or delivers services that were not approved for funding under the governing FCC Form 471. [The FCC] recognize[s] that in some instances, both the beneficiary and the service provider may share responsibility for a statutory or rule violation. In such situations, USAC may initiate recovery action against both parties, and shall pursue such claims until the amount is satisfied by one of the parties. Pursuant to section 54.719(c) of the [FCC]’s rules, any person aggrieved by the action taken by a division of the Administrator may seek review from the [FCC]. (para.15)

Enforcement action. Any recipient of the demand letter is obligated to repay the recovery amount by the deadlines described in the Commitment Adjustment Implementation Order [(FCC 00-350, released October 26, 2000)]. Failure to do so may subject such recipients to enforcement action by the [FCC] in addition to any collection action. (para.16)

Good Samaritans. …Good Samaritans should not be subject to recovery actions except in those situations where the Good Samaritan itself has committed the act or omission that violates [the FCC’s] rules or the governing statute. (para.17)

The revised Forms 472 and 474 are now available on the Forms Page of this web site. Form 472 can only be filed on paper; Form 474 can be filed either online or on paper.

The SLD will continue to accept the October 1998 version of Form 472 and the October 2001 version of Form 474 filed on paper through December 31, 2004. However, processing of these earlier forms will be delayed until the certification pages from the current forms have been correctly submitted and successfully data entered. Earlier versions of these forms postmarked after December 31, 2004 will be returned.