June 2005 Announcements

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

On Monday, June 27, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) will release wave one of funding commitment letters to 2005 school and library applicants. USAC will send over 7,700 letters committing more than $265.2 million in universal service funding. The letters notify applicants of funding commitments for Priority One services (telecommunications services and Internet access) for all discount bands from 20% - 90%.

Helpful Hints

Applicants who receive Funding Commitment Decision Letters should read them carefully. The letters contain information on next steps, including the deadline for filing the Form 486, certification(s) for the purposes of the Children's Internet Protection Act, deadlines for filing invoices, and the procedure for filing appeals. Please note especially that, if a technology plan is required, applicants must have their technology plans approved by a certified technology plan approver before services start. For more information or to find a certified approver, please go to the Certified Technology Plan Approver Locator available in the Reference Area of this web site.

On June 1, 2005, the SLD issued Funding Commitment Decision Letters (FCDLs) for Funding Year 2003 Wave 40. This will be the last regular wave for FY2003 commitments.

The SLD announced on March 2, 2004 that approved Internal Connections requests for FY2003 can be funded down to the 70% level. The SLD will deny any remaining Internal Connections funding requests with discount percentages of 69% and below. Also, applications filed after the close of the FY2003 Form 471 application filing window will not be considered for funding.

For applicants who have not yet received an FCDL in the 40 regular FY2003 waves, the SLD has issued or will issue a letter or other communication with additional information about the status of commitments on their FY2003 applications. The SLD is still reviewing the properly completed in-window Forms 471 for which commitments have not yet been made, and will issue occasional waves (designated 40A, 40B, and so on) as decisions are reached on those applications.