On October 31, 2012, the Universal Service Administrative Company submitted its Administrative Procedures summary with the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC’s Fifth Report and Order requires USAC “to submit to the Commission [. . .] a list summarizing all current USAC administrative procedures identifying, where appropriate, the specific rule(s) or statutory requirements that such procedures further, and those procedures that serve to protect the Universal Service Fund (USF) against waste, fraud and abuse.”
Significant changes from last year’s Administrative Procedures include:
Community Eligibility Option (CEO) addition
The following language was added regarding the Community Eligibility Option for discount rate calculation:
The CEO utilizes a reimbursement rate calculated by determining the percentage of students directly certified times a 1.6 multiplier.23 The multiplier skews National School Lunch Program (NSLP) discount information for E-rate discount calculation purposes. In order to substantiate the discount level of an entity participating in CEO, USAC allows entities to use the school’s most recent non-CEO NSLP data to substantiate their current year discount.
Consortium Letters of Agency (LOA) removal
The language below regarding consortium letters of agency, which was included in the Funding Year 2012 Administrative Procedures, was removed in the Funding Year 2013 document:
The description of services and products requested on the consortium Letter of Agency must be consistent with the description of services and products posted on the applicant’s FCC Form 470.
