The USAC Schools and Libraries Committee held their quarterly meeting on July 25th, 2011. The Committee approved USAC’s operating budget for the quarter, and SLD Vice President Mel Blackwell reviewed actions the SLD has taken since their last Board Meeting on April 26th.
Here are some of the highlights from the meeting:
- There was approximately $53 million requested for Dark Fiber service in FY2011. Thirteen of the dark fiber requests listed non-telecommunication companies.
- The SLD is continuing to review FY2011 priority two applications. However, they will not release any commitments, even at the 90% discount band, until they have a clearer picture of the resources that will be available to fund FY2011 P2 requests.
- The SLD is awaiting approval from the FCC to fund FY2010 priority two projects at the 80% discount level.
- Mel Blackwell reported to the Committee that due to a system glitch, a small percentage of applicants received notices from the SLD that they had not submitted their Item 21 in a timely fashion. New FCC rules for FY2011 dictate that Item 21 attachments must be submitted by the time the Form 471 window closed.
- The USAC Schools and Libraries Committee approved two USAC Internal Audit Division Beneficiary Audits:
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- In one of the audits the applicant did not pay their invoices in a timely manner. Per FCC regulations, applicants need to pay their service providers within 90 days. Because the applicant ultimately paid their service provider for the service, there were no monetary findings.
- There were several findings in the second audit. First, the applicant released an RFP but did not specify that they had done so on the Form 470. Next, the applicant could not provide documentation they paid their non-discounted portion to their service provider and had invoiced USAC for ineligible services. Third, the applicant did not have price as the primary evaluation factor when choosing their service provider; and, finally, the applicant had an inaccurate fixed asset register used to track their internal connections equipment.
The USAC Schools and Libraries Committee reported during their April 26th, 2011 meeting that $600 million was available for possible rollover for FY2011. Next week, USAC will release their FCC Quarterly Report, which should provide additional information on the availability of rollover funds for FY2011.
