Get Connected - Fall 2007 - (Page 12)

Ramp Up for Season Other E-Rate News and Tips 4Eligible Services List for 2008-2009 was also recently released. Unlike E-Rate last year where the format of the list was changed and significant new services such as Voice over Internet Protocol were made eligible, this year’s update is very minimal and mainly favorable to the applicant. Go to the SLD Web site to check out the new list or check out the FCC notice summarizing the changes at the following link to the FCC Web site: • http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-182A1.doc 4Technology plans have been announced as the most frequent source of non-compliance in E-Rate audits including a large number of audits where a technology plan approval letter was not available • We expect that tech plans and related documents could be a focus of SLD activity this year • Start now—before you file a 470—to verify that you have what you need related to your tech plan < E-Rate Season is here once again. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that the window for Form 471 filings is opening on November 7 (the earliest ever I believe) and closing on February 7 (which was changed after an initial announcement that the deadline was going to be January 24). With the window closing on February 7, all 470s must be posted by January 10th. We recommend filing all of your 470s filed by mid-December to allow you time to get your bids done, contracts signed and E-Rate filed without a mad rush in early February. Remember, if you file earlier in the window, it increases your chance to get approved earlier. Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) review can begin as soon as your application is received, and many applicants have received PIA questions while the window is still open. Make sure you have evidence of the date you “created” your tech plan • Known as the “creation date,” this is the date of the first draft of the plan and must be before you filed a 470 that relied on the plan • At this point, the SLD is only asking applicants to certify this date and not to provide a draft plan or other information • At a minimum you should consider keeping a copy of your initial tech plan draft, along with the date indicated, in your E-Rate files so you can easily provide that date if asked < Make sure your tech plan covers all services requested on 470s and 471s • Prepare an update/amendment if needed Make sure your tech plan covers the entire E-Rate year • That is from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009 Make sure that the tech plan gets approved in a timely manner and that you keep a copy of the approval letter • The approval letter must be dated before services begin, typically by July 1 • The approval letter is not required before you file your 470 or 471 < < 4Form 470 recommendation View ENA’s E-Rate Webinars To view recordings of our E-rate training Webinars, visit our Web site at www.ena.com/events/webinars.html. There, you can select the Webinar you’re interested in and simply click to watch and hear it! • Consider checking both the multi-year contract and contract with voluntary extensions boxes on the 470 for all service requests < These boxes do not force you to accept a multi-year contract or allow contract extensions However, if not checked, you cannot get funding in a subsequent E-Rate year without doing another 470/bid In my opinion, checking these boxes allows the applicant more flexibility to select the most cost-effective offer from vendors, which might include accepting an offer that requires a multi-year contract < < ENA’s E-Rate Team is at your service! Rex Miller (866) 615-1101 ext. 1005| rmiller@ena.com April Scott (866) 615-1101 ext. 1152 | ascott@ena.com Crystal Coleman (866) 615-1101 ext. 1177 | ccoleman@ena.com We at ENA look forward to working with you to complete your E-rate filings this season. We have have already presented Webinars and other training events to help our customers keep up with E-Rate news and successfully complete the E-Rate process. If you were unable to participate in those, you can view recordings of the Webinars at www.ena.com/events/webinars.html. Information on local market E-Rate processes has been released or will be released in the near future. Please contact your ASM or the ENA E-Rate team at any time if we can be of assistance. —Rex Miller http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-182A1.doc http://www.ena.com/events/webinars.html http://www.ena.com/events/webinars.html

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Get Connected - Fall 2007

Get Connected - Fall 2007 NSBA Social Networking Study A Letter From the President Network Services for Libraries 25th Annual TETC Conference Partnership for 21st Century Skills E-mail Archiving Social Networking 101 Ramp Up for E-Rate Season News From HECC Notes From the CTO

Get Connected - Fall 2007

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