The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) released their Quarterly Report on January 31 announcing that they have $400 million currently available for potential rollover into FY2011. The funds available for rollover have increased by an additional $150 million since USAC’s last Quarterly Report in November.
The FCC will announce how much of the $400 million they will authorize USAC to rollover by July 1 which has a direct impact on how many priority two projects ultimately will receive E-rate support for their projects. USAC reported the breakdown of unused funds by year as follows:
- FY2003 – $20 million
- FY2004 – $50 million
- FY2005 – $110 million
- FY2006 – $85 million
- FY2007 – $115 million
- FY2008 – $20 million
The quarterly report also highlighted the number of potentially fundable applications (Forms 471) they have left for each funding year as of December 31, 2010. The breakdown is as follows:
- FY2001 – 2 potentially fundable applications
- FY2002 –1 potentially fundable application
- FY2003 – 2 potentially fundable applications
- FY2004 – 30 potentially fundable applications
- FY2005 – 22 potentially fundable applications
- FY2006 – 63 potentially fundable applications
- FY2007 – 129 potentially fundable applications
- FY2008 – 191 potentially fundable applications
- FY2009 – 638 potentially fundable applications
- FY2010 – 6,935 potentially fundable applications
Based on the FCC's Third Report and Order, the FCC can direct USAC to apply unused funds to increase the amount of available funding for a particular funding year and every quarter USAC is required to revise their estimates of the unused funds. In FY2009 and FY2010, the FCC directed USAC to rollover $900 million in each year respectively to increase the overall funding pot.
The report also discussed the commission’s effort to strengthen the effectiveness of audits and other investigative techniques. In 2008 the FCC Office of Inspector General (OIG) initially reported that the USAC had an estimated improper payment rate of 23.3% to E-rate beneficiaries. However, according to USAC, that rate was based on substantially incomplete audit work. On December 15, 2010, USAC released a report that was conducted by independent audit forms that demonstrated the correct estimated improper rate to be 2.7%. USAC has now implemented the Payment Quality Assurance (PQA) program to help keep USAC compliance with regulatory reporting requirements and each month disbursements are selected to verify that payments were made according to program compliance rules.
Having your applications delayed can be a long and stressful process, but Funds For Learning can help. Continue to check www.fundsforlearning.com for the latest E-rate news and if you would like information on how FFL can guide you through the application process, please contact us at 405-341-4140, or by email at info@fundsforlearning.com.
