2015 E-Rate Funding Decisions Update from the Universal Service Administration Company

The Federal Communications Commission provided a target of September 1 to complete all “workable” E-rate applications. The Universal Service Administration Company (USAC) adjusted the date to September 24 to reflect the effect of the three week FCC Form 471 deadline extension. USAC received approximately 48,000 applications of which about 42,000 were classified as “workable,” by September 24. With the help of the E-rate community, USAC reviewed and committed 41,852 applications, 225 applications short of the target. These remaining applications will be completed by October 2.

In total USAC has approximately 6,000 “unworkable” applications remaining. While the definition of “unworkable” is clear in the FCC order, the term does not fully capture the reality of these applications. For the most part, these applications are, in fact, workable, but they do require additional review and information requests of varying scope. However, nearly all of these are in process and USAC projects that most will be completed in the next 90 days. This issue is particularly important because these applications represent over $1 billion in value and thus represent a greater proportion of the program dollars than application volume. As USAC works to finalize these remaining applications, it also has begun a review of its internal review processes and procedures so that it can meaningfully accelerate the pace of decisions for all Funding Year 2016 applications.


2015 E-Rate Funding Decisions Update from the Universal Service Administration Company