Stacey Mulligan, State Library Development Advisor and E-Rate contact for public libraries, directs your attention to the email below from Julie Tritt-Schell, PA E-rate coordinator.  Please also see the Official USAC Notice (below Julie’s note) regarding the extension.

 Julie Tritt Schell, PA E-rate Coordinator:

This afternoon, USAC officially extended the FY 2015 Form 471 filing deadline by three weeks to Thursday, April 16, 2015

Why?  As I’ve been mentioning, the new Form 471 is redesigned for FY 2015, is more data-intensive, and contains a new Manage Recipients requirement for each line item in each FRN that makes the form more challenging than in previous years, particularly for larger applicants.  Although the deadline has been extended, I strongly encourage you to try to submit your Form 471 as soon as possible.  USAC has stated that PIA reviews have already begun and that applications submitted and certified early will likely be funded first.  If ever there was a reason to submit your Form 471 in the next few weeks — this is it!

For those of you who have recently realized that you need to submit another Form 470, this also is your chance to do so.  Technically, the new last day to file a Form 470 — and still leave yourself a single day to file a Form 471 — is Thursday, March 19.  But if you wait until this day, you will have no choice but to submit your Form 471 on April 16.  Therefore, if you need to submit a new Form 470, please do so as soon as possible to give yourself a few days breathing room at the end of the window.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jtschell@comcast.net.  Again, please, please don’t delay in filing your applications as it will only delay your funding commitment letter(s).

— Julie

Official USAC Notice:

FY2015 Application Filing Window Deadline Extended

NEW CLOSE DATE: APRIL 16, 2015 at 11:59:59 pm EDT

In response to a reasonable request from our nation’s largest school districts, USAC – in consultation with the FCC – has extended the FY2015 application filing window for THREE additional weeks. The application filing window will now close on April 16, 2015 instead of the original date of March 26, 2015.

FCC Form 471 applications must be submitted on or before 11:59:59 pm EDT on Thursday, April 16, 2015 to be considered in-window.

The extension of the application window will not slow down or adversely impact the review of applications or cause a delay in issuing funding decisions for those applications which have been submitted and certified. In preparation for the expected volume of applications and to help ensure that we issue timely decisions, we have added and trained a significant number of additional reviewers.

We encourage all applicants to continue to work on their applications. Please do not use the extension to delay submission of your application. Remember if we do not have your application, we cannot review it. We are already starting the review of FY2015 applications. You should be prepared to respond as soon as possible to any questions you receive from our reviewers, so that we can make funding commitment decisions on your application. Those applications that have been submitted, certified and meet program requirements will likely get a decision first.

– If you have not yet started your FCC Form 471 application process, start it now.

– If you have started but not submitted your FCC Form 471 application, complete and submit it as soon as possible.

– If you have not yet certified your application, certify it now.

• You can certify online if you have a Personal Identification Number (PIN).
• You can also print a paper copy of your certification page, sign and date it, and send it to USAC.

The review of your application cannot start until it has been successfully certified. Please visit the USAC website for helpful tips as well as videos that can help you as you prepare your FY2015 application. You can also Submit a Question or call us at 1 (888) 203-8100 if you have questions.

Julie Tritt Schell
PA E-rate Coordinator
717-730-7133 – o
717-730-9060 – f
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org