E-rate Form 471 Application Filing Window Opens

The Form 471 application filing window for Funding Year 2016 opened today at noon EST and will close on Friday, April 29 at 11:59 pm EDT . This makes Friday, April 1, the deadline to post your Form 470 to the USAC website, meet the 28-day posting requirement for the competitive bidding process, and submit a Form 471 by the filing window closing date. However, we do not recommend waiting until the last day to submit your Form 470. If there are any issues that day, like the E-rate servers are slowed down because it is the last day to submit, or you can’t submit the form due to reasons on your end, like illness, weather, power outage, etc.,, then you would miss the deadline and lose out on E-rate altogether. So, get your E-rate process started and submit your Form 470 as soon as possible! IMPORTANT: Before you file your Form 471, check your Form 470 Receipt Notification for your Allowable Contract Date – the first date you are allowed to submit your 471. Do not submit your 471 before that date. Remember, after you submit your Form 470, you must wait 28 days to submit your Form 471. Note: This Notice is no longer mailed to you. It is now sent to you within the EPC portal and will be in your News feed. Do you need help completing your forms? Do you have questions about E-rate? You’re in luck! USAC has posted a Special Edition News Brief full of Guidance Materials for the Filing Window. In addition to instructional PDFs and videos, they are also conducting a series of webinars to help you navigate the E-rate process in the new EPC portal. You can register for these webinars on the USAC Training & Outreach webpage. USAC will also be starting up a new blog, File Along With Me, that will take you through the application filing window from beginning to end at a steady pace. If you follow along, read the blog, and take the actions described in each posting, by the close of the window you should end up with a certified FCC Form 471. And more recorded webinars, demos, and training materials are available on the NLC E-rate webpage. If you have any questions or need any assistance with your E-rate forms, please contact Christa Burns, 800-307-2665, 402-471-3107.