e-rate form 471 window opened on 12/3/09

The window for the E-Rate Form 471 FY 2010-2011 opened on December 3, 2009 at 12 noon EST (10am MST). It closes at 11:59 pm EST (9:59pm MST) on Thursday, February 11, 2010.

If you haven't yet filed Form 470 for the upcoming year, you need to do it ASAP. If you're filing for anything other than basic telephone service, make sure your technology plan is up-to-date. You must have one "created" that covers the 2010-2011 funding year BEFORE you file Form 470. Make sure you also have proof of that creation date.

Keep in mind that Form 470 has to be posted 28 days before you can file Form 471. With the current window, I'd definitely get the 470 done before the end of December.

Unfortunately, we don't have E-Rate discounts calculated for Montana public libraries. I am unable to access any school lunch data from the OPI site.

You may choose to calculate your own E-Rate discounts this year. If you do so, I recommend you start with the spreadsheet Donna Caban did for you last year which is on the MSL website
http://www.msl.mt.gov/for_librarians/e-rate/Erate_2008_discounts.xls

Save the sheet for your library. That way you have the formulas you need to do the calculations.

Next contact your school district and ask them for their enrollment and school lunch figures for each school in the district for the current school year. I'd ask for them in writing, dated and on some kind of official letterhead. This will help a great deal, should SLD ask you to verify your discount during review.

Remember you CANNOT use the school district's E-Rate discount. Discounts for schools and libraries are calculated differently.

The spreadsheet will calculate your eligible percentage. The final step is to use the discount matrix to find out your E-Rate discount
http://www.universalservice.org/sl/applicants/step05/discount-matrix.aspx

Note that there are two columns, one for rural and another for urban. You'll find the designation for your library on the spreadsheet. Know that only Yellowstone, Cascade and Missoula counties are considered urban.

It's a lot of information, I know. If you have questions or are going to need help with a tech plan or Form 470, please try to get hold of me by December 11.

Thanks and Happy E-Rate!

October E-Rate deadlines

October 29, 2009 is the deadline for filing Form 486 for FY 2009-10 for many of you. This dealine applies if you received your Funding Commitment Decision Letter (FCDL) on or before July 1, 2009. Otherwise you have 120 days to file Form 486. If you miss your deadline, your E-Rate funds will be reduced.

The Schools and Libraries web site has a handy Deadline Calculator to help you figure out your deadline for this and other forms.

Libraries with information indicating that they may still need to file Form 486.

BELGRADE COMMUNITY LIBRARY
GLACIER COUNTY LIBRARY
GLENDIVE PUBLIC LIBRARY
LAUREL PUBLIC LIBRARY
PRAIRIE COUNTY LIBRARY
SHERIDAN PUBLIC LIBRARY
VALIER PUBLIC LIBRARY
WHITEHALL COMMUNITY LIBRARY

October 28, 2009 is the deadline for filing 472 BEAR forms for FY 2008-9. If you get reimbursements, you might want to check your records and those of your service provider to make sure you've received all of your money for 2008-9.

This does not apply to you if you receive E-Rate discounts on your bill from your provider.

Several libraries still appear to have funds outstanding that they have not yet received from their service providers. If you're in one of these libraries, you should probably check with your service provider to find out if you need to file a BEAR form.

Boulder Community Library
Ekalaka Public Library
GARFIELD COUNTY FREE LIBRARY
GLENDIVE PUBLIC LIBRARY
LAUREL PUBLIC LIBRARY
MILES CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY

If you do need to file a BEAR form at this late date, I strongly suggest filing for an invoice extension. Information on how to do this is available from the SLD website. http://www.universalservice.org/sl/applicants/step11/invoice-deadlines-extension-requests.aspx

Broadband Stimulus and E-rate

You've probably heard about the federal stimulus package and the broadband plan within that. Bob Cooper and others have sent emails to wired-mt on it.

I'll try to explain some of the basics of it here briefly. There are two agencies overseeing the broadband stimulus applications - USDA RUS (Rural Utilities Service) has BIP (Broadband Infrastructure Program) and Department of Commerce NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) has BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunities Program). We are currently in the first of three rounds. The application deadline for the first round is August 14, 2009.

BIP is directed solely toward rural telephone and internet service providers but your library may be able to benefit from it if your service provider applies and received funding. I've talked with representatives from most of the regional telephone cooperatives in Montana over the past couple of weeks. Many of them are planning to apply for grants or loans in this first round. It's in their interest to partner with community anchor institutions like libraries, schools and healthcare facilities. They can get more points for their applicaiton that way. So, your library may be able to beneift by partnering with your telco and/or providing letters of support to their applications.

BTOP also has a large infrastructure component in this first round. But the parts that seem more pertinent to libraries are the public computer center and sustainable broadband adoption programs. There is a 20% match required for all NTIA funds. The match can be in kind and you can also request a waiver. If you want more information, start with ALA's Know Your Stimulus website. They have links to the applications and guidelines, archived webinars, FAQs, etc. I'm not going to give a lot more information here aside from quoting ALA as to whether or not your library should attempt to apply in this round: "It depends on the nature of your project and the quality of your application. If you are confident you can get all the required pieces together and make your case by the first round deadline of August 14th you should consider applying in round one."

Why am I going into this on the E-rate blog? First, if you're considering increasing your library's bandwidth (and after all my rants I certainly hope everyone is!), the broadband stimulus program is certainly something to be aware of and try to take advantage of either via your or your telco's applications. And higher bandwidth costs can certainly be subsidized by E-rate.

But you have to plan for that now! Both with updated technology plans and a Form 470 requesting higher speeds/capacity. You might also want to keep in mind that E-rate discounts can be applied to last mile projects - getting fiber optic cable into your library.

Rounds 2 and 3 have yet to be announced. But let's make sure our E-rate tech plans and applications are ready to support these opportunities.

Last minute E-Rate tips

Here are a few tips from Linda Schatz to maintain your sanity for these last few hours of the window today and tomorrow.

1. After you submit your application online, I would recommend that you go to:
• “Apply Online”
• Under Form 471, click “Display”
• After entering your security numbers, etc., you’ll be taken to a page that precedes Block 1 of the application. PRINT THAT PAGE FOR YOUR FILES! That page will indicate the “the “certified in-window status (if you had a PIN and signed electronically). The important thing is that information will be displayed along with the browser date at the bottom proving that now, before the window closed, that your form was filed and certified (if so indicated).
• If you did not have a PIN and you had to submit a paper Block 6 certification, that same page will note a “complete” (but not certified) status and it is still important to have that proof on a date prior to the close of the window (based on the browser date at the bottom of the page.)
• If you had to file a paper Block 6, keep checking back and print a copy of this page for your records as soon as the status changes to “certified” once the Client Service Bureau has data entered your Block 6.


2. The items that must be “postmarked” before the close of the window are:
• The Form 470 certification (this is often overlooked)
• The Form 471
• The Form 471 certification
  

(Yes, I know that Bishop Perry offers a little certification relief but PLEASE don’t rely on that. Make sure you get everything postmarked by the close of the window at 11:59 EST tomorrow!)





Item 21’s are not required to be submitted or postmarked before the close of the window but PIA will not review your application without them so do them as soon as possible.




3. If you file anything manually, make sure you have PROOF OF POSTMARK! Dropping something off at the Fed Ex drop box or UPS drop location is not sufficient. You must have proof that your submission is in their “system” (i.e. “postmarked” ) before the window close.



4. Track your Fed. Ex., UPS, or USPS delivery and make sure you print out the actual delivery proof for anything you file manually. Take this copy and put it in your E-rate files. These documents are only kept online for so long (it varies from company to company), and these can be critical documents in any appeal situation.



5. And, last but not least, take a deep breath or a sigh of relief and get ready for PIA!!!

Good luck, everybody.

calculating discounts for libraries

Donna Caban and I put together a spreadsheet last fall for Montana public libraries to use to determine their E-Rate discounts. It's linked from here on the right under 2008 Discounts.

Feel free to download this spreadsheet, and make a copy of the page(s) for your library. We used the most recent available data from OPI to calculate these discounts. Due to the volume of data and the time it takes to compile it, the data we used were from the 2007/2008 school year. The reviewers from Schools and Libraries have also been provided this link and the link to the original OPI data. Consequently, this is what they will be using to review your library's discounts.

It takes us a lot of time to put together and proof this data for you. Also included are FSCS identification nubmers for your library. We do it to make the application process easier for you. We also provide it to SLD to make the review process faster and smoother. Ideally we're all working from the same numbers.

Of course, you can feel free to do your own calculations for your library based on the current year's school lunch data. But you can't just use your school's percentages or discounts. Schools and libraries calculate their discounts somewhat differently. A school district uses a weighted average and libraries use a straight average. Don't ask me what difference this makes for many of our small school districts. But what it means is that PIA will probably not be satisfied to learn that you just called up your superintendent and asked what their discount was and plugged it in as your library's. You can, however, ask for their school lunch data - number of students enrolled in each school and the number eligible for school lunches. From that you can calculate your own averages and percentages and then look up the E-Rate discount in the matrix. These are weighted differently depending on whether your library is in a rural or urban county. To make it a little bit easier, only Cascade, Missoula and Yellowstone counties are considered urban.

It's a bit more work for you but it might be worth it if you can pick up an extra 10% discount. My advice is to keep all of your records with your E-Rate paperwork for the year and be prepared to produce it when your discount rate is challenged. And it will be challenged if your discount rate differs from the "official" one. Keep:
- The school lunch and enrollment data on school district letterhead, if possible
- Your own spreadsheet with calculations

What do you need when you file Form 471?

This year's deadline to file Form 471 online is February 12, 2009 at 9:59pm MST.

So what do you need to have with you when you go online?

1. Form 470
   Your 471 is based on your 470 so you want to make sure the information matches up EXACTLY. A couple of things to check on regarding your 470. You can get this information from your Receipt Notification Letter (RNL) or by searching for your posted 470 online -
   
   • Make sure that your 470 is listed as certified. If it's listed as complete. You'll still need to do online or paper certification.
     
   • That your your allowable contract date is before the date you're filing Form 471. This is also your allowable 471 filing date. And, if you're signing any contracts with service providers, make sure you don't sign them prior to your allowable contract date.
     
   
   
2. A bid or other price on services you are requesting on Form 471. I think a bid from your prospective service provider is best but you can use a phone bill for pricing on existing and continuing services. But you might want to check with your service provider to make sure that information is correct and likely to stay that way in the upcoming year.
3. Your Service Provider's Information Number or SPIN. This is how they are identified by USAC. It should be provided on a bid. If you're at a loss for how to find it or who can even provide it for you, you can use the SPIN contact search.
4. Your library's E-Rate discount. We calculate these for you and the spreadsheet is available from the link on the right hand column - 2008 E-Rate Discounts. Copy the page for your library and add it to your E-Rate file. You will also use this page to match up your school district and for your FSCS (Federal State Cooperative Statistics) number.
5. Previous year's 471. This isn't necessary but it can help you remember how you or your predecessor has answered some of the questions in previous years.