The Schools and Libraries Division announced April 26 that E-rate applicants who qualify for the Year Two "out-of-window" commitments that are now being distributed will have until Sept. 30, 2001 to complete one-time installations supported with those funds.
That will provide applicants with only five months to finish their work, one month less than the Federal Communications Commission has traditionally provided in special cases, such as appeals. The FCC made provision for the deadline extension last Nov. 1, but it took the SLD another six months to finish processing the funding commitments.
In the case of Year Two out-of-window commitments approved for recurring services, such as telecommunications services and Internet access, the SLD said it will not honor invoices submitted on services delivered after June 30, 2000, the official end of the second funding year.
The SLD advised applicants to review whether they would need to extend their pertinent contracts for one-time installations to accommodate the delays. If the contract end date reported on the relevant Form 471 has already passed, the applicant will need to extend its contract and then file a Form 500 to notify the SLD of the contract extension date. Only then will an applicant be able to file a Form 486 to begin the payment process.
It is expected that the new funding commitments will be posted on the SLD Web site over the next few days.
