As of August 31, 2022, the Universal Service Administrative Company had issued $2.41B in funding commitments for FY2022 applications, setting a new program record. In total, USAC had issued funding decisions for almost 80% of the funding requests submitted in FY2022 by August 31, representing more than 90% of the dollars requested.
In its 2014 E-rate Modernization Order, the Federal Communications Commission directed USAC to “aim to issue funding commitments or denials for all ‘workable’ funding requests by September 1st of each funding year.” Defining a “workable” application as one which is “filed timely and is complete, with all necessary information, to enable a reviewer to make the appropriate funding decision, and the applicant, provider, and any consultants are not subject to investigation, audit, or other similar reason for delay in a funding decision,” the FCC established the September 1 benchmark in an effort to “increase the timeliness of funding commitment decisions.”
Funding commitments issued prior the September 1 goal have increased for the third year in a row, with FY2022’s committed amount surpassing FY2021 by more than 15%.
