USAC/Schools and Library Web Site Tour

Web Site Tour – Morning Edition… Navigation on the site – Instructions – Forms – Reference Area – Tools Later This Afternoon Funding Commitment and Advanced Data Searches

Breaking News Here Menu Here

Click on Overview of Process and you get a step by step guide to filing for e-rate discounts!

Click on Outreach and Training to see copies of prior trainings, to find out how to schedule a HATS visit and to see a collection of the Schools and Libraries Weekly News Briefs.

Click on Schools and Libraries News Briefs to see articles by topic or to look at weekly news briefs. To subscribe to get the news briefs delivered directly to your box click the subscribe link above.

News Briefs are filed two ways. This is the “By Topic” sort. If you are interested in a specific topic – you just scroll down to that topic and select the latest publication date.

Sorting by date gives you the option of just reading the latest publications. They are published weekly, usually on Friday.

Click to on Apply Online

This is the page you go to in order to file your forms on-line. At this date, only forms 470, 471, 486 and 472 are available on-lie.

Form 470 To apply – Click on either Form 470 Interview or – Create Form 470 To review a prior year’s application or another district’s application – Click on Search Posted If you’re now ready to finish a form started earlier – Click on Continue Incomplete If you completed the form and now have your PIN number or would like to print off a certification page to sign and mail in – Click on Certify Complete

After you have selected Search Posted, you see this screen. Select the correct funding year (and fiscal year) for your search.

Type in search criteria and then click on next.

Select which application you would like to review then click on Review Selected Application.

This is your 470 form number. This is your district’s assigned form number. You can see the status of your application here. This is the date you posted the form 470. This is the FIRST DATE you can sign a contract. You can see if your PIN number or signature was recorded if a certification date is entered here.

Form 471 To apply – Click on either Form 471 Interview or – Create Form 471 If you’re now ready to finish a form started earlier – Click on Continue Incomplete If you completed the form and now have your PIN number or would like to print off a certification page to sign and mail in – Click on Certify Complete If you want to look at a prior application or an application from another school – Click on Display If you want to check on the status of your application – Click on Application status

To print out an application put your 471 # here. In this area, click the radio button by current if your application has been approved, if funding has not yet been committed you will have to select original. Then click display.

This area shows you application number, status if filed within the open window, when RAL was sent and date the form was certified. Click on Display Entire Application to see the application in its entirety.

To check the status of a form 471, enter your Billed Entity Number here. Then click on search. Select the funding year in question.

Then this page appears. Click on continue to get final results.

You then see this page with your form number and status. Below you will find the definition of each status.

Form 486 To apply – Click on either Form 486 Interview or – Create Form 486 If you’re now ready to finish a form started earlier – Click on Continue Incomplete To review a prior year’s application or another district’s application – Click on Display If you completed the form and now have your PIN number or would like to print off a certification page to sign and mail in – Click on Certify Complete

BEAR – Form 472 To file your BEAR form on-line – Click on BEAR On-line under the utilities bar – Then sign into the login page BEN = Billed Entity # PIN = You may have a separate PIN # for BEAR forms Then enter your address and last name then click on login

To create a new BEAR form click here. To track existing BEAR forms click here.

Form starts pre-populated with this information. Enter the SPIN number and a district assigned form number. You need to do ONE BEAR form per service provider, but if you have multiple FRNs for one provider, you only need to complete one BEAR form!

Form 471 # can be found on your FCDL. To make it a 10 digit number start the number with four zeros. FRN can be found on your FCDL. To make it a 10 digit number start the number with three zeros. For reoccurring services enter the first date of the term you are billing for in column 12, for internal connections, enter delivery date in #13. Gross eligible services go in this cell. Be sure to take out items ineligible items and personal phone calls from cell phone bills. This cell contains your gross eligible services times your discount percent OR your funding commitment. WHICHEVER IS SMALLER.

Read and affirm your compliance!!! Add contact information in this area. Add account numbers or other information that would identify YOUR bills to YOUR service provider – then click on certify and submit.

How to track BEAR forms Click on Track Form Add your query information here Then click on search

Your search results show up here – Click on invoice ID to get a summary.

Top half of page includes SLD assigned Invoice ID, date created and date last updated.

Shows your submission/certification date here. Shows service provider’s certification date here.

If the e-certification process does not work, you can click on the printable page here and a form will be printed that you can then fax to your service provider for signatures.

You can view funding commitments at this link. Don’t miss afternoon session for more details. You can submit a question about any subject by clicking on the Submit a Question link and following instructions.

Latest news gives you the full article from the notices posted to the right. A generic calendar with deadlines can be found under the Calendar and Reminders link.

What you find on Required Forms link…. Download forms and instructions from this link.

Reference Area Click on letter of alphabet to search by topic starting with that letter or scroll down for printout of topics.

Search Tools This link includes commitments searches, data retrieval tools, deadline calculation tools, posted form searches, SPIN number searches, BEN searches, eligible services database, etc. Stay tuned this afternoon for a step by step tour of the Data Retrieval Tool.

Spin Contact Search Use this tool to find a service provider’s SPIN number, to see if they are an eligible telecomm provider and if they have filed their annual SPAC form. Type information in name or SPIN field then click on next.

SPIN # and Service Provider Name Their E- Rate Contact Person Their address Their E- Rate Contact Person’s phone # If they are an eligible telecommunications provider they will have a Y in this column. If they have filed the required Annual Service Provider SPAC form, the year will be found here.

Changes and Corrections Click on links for instructions for changes and corrections.

Suspensions and Debarments Do NOT do business with anyone you find on this list!!

How do you report Misuse and Abuse?

Having problems with SLD staff?

Stay Tuned…. This afternoon we will show an example of retrieving funding commitment information and a example of a data retrieval.