The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) has released its 2009 Annual Report. Among the goals of the Annual Report is to provide the Federal Communications Commission and Congress details about the non-profit company’s activities, expenses, and performance measures regarding it’s management of the Universal Service Fund programs.
The E-rate program is one of the four Universal Service Programs administerd by USAC.
Highlights from the report include:
- USAC expenses increased by $15 million from 2008. The report states that “…overall general and administrative expenses increased because of costs associated with implementing the large-scale FCC Office of Inspector General USF audit program…”
- USAC had hired 9 auditing firms to audit all four USF program beneficiaries
- There were 3,878 E-rate service providers in 2009 down from 4,064 in 2008
- There were over 21,000 E-rate applicants in 2009
- On average, USAC continues to process E-rate payments in ten days or less
- Approximately 13.6% of submitted invoices (BEARs and SPIs) are denied
- The improper payment rate dropped approximately 33% since the FCC OIG initially reported the improper payment rate at 12.9% in 2007. USAC is now reporting their improper payment rate dropped to 8.6%
- USAC is typically processing E-rate appeals between 49 and 128 days after their submission.
The 2009 USAC Annual Report can be viewed here.
