Only 6,800 applicants have started the competitive bidding process for FY2016. This represents 25% of the 26,769 applicants who submitted funding requests in FY2015.
The low number of applicants corresponds to a lower number of Form 470 submissions. Although the Form 470 is required for all new contracts and service agreements, as of January 3 a total of 9,349 Form 470s have been submitted for FY2016.
Applicants are encouraged to register for the USAC EPC system and submit their Form 470 paperwork as soon as possible.
Voice Service and Network Switches Most Sought Items
As first identified in a prior analysis, demand for voice services and data switches continues to generate the most activity amongst those applicants who have submitted their Forms 470.