As experienced E-rate stakeholders know, the installation and invoicing deadlines should be automatically granted by the SLD under certain circumstances. When an applicant receives a category two funding request after March 1 of the funding year, the applicant will have an additional year to complete and invoice for the project. Applicants should receive automatic installation and invoice extensions when an appeal or product/service substitution is granted. Unfortunately, it appears that E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) is no longer extending the installation or invoicing deadlines for certain funding requests in accordance with the rules. With the invoice deadline rapidly approaching for FY2016, there are many recurring service FRNs that could be impacted by this glitch, if USAC is unable to correct the issue in time.
While it does appear that USAC is aware of the bug preventing automatic extensions from being applied, it is not clear how long it will take USAC to correct the issue. Applicants and Service Providers should pay close attention to these deadlines to ensure they are in compliance with the deadlines, even if the EPC is inaccurately showing an incorrect date.
