_________________________________________________________________ ALAWON Volume 7, Number 138 ISSN 1069-7799 November 9, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (87 lines) SLC PASSES AUDIT TESTS; PATH CLEARED FOR ISSUANCE OF COMMITMENT LETTERS _________________________________________________________________ Note: The following is a November 6, 1998 E-rate Newsflash from the Schools and Libraries Corporation. SLC PASSES AUDIT TESTS; PATH CLEARED FOR ISSUANCE OF COMMITMENT LETTERS This week, the Schools and Libraries Corporation (SLC) passed two major milestones on its path to issuing funding commitment decision letters to E-rate applicants. First, on November 4, the SLC received -- on the subject of its internal control design for achieving the SLC's stated program and internal controls objectives -- an unqualified opinion from its independent auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Second, the SLC wrote to the FCC Chairman William Kennard affirming that it had implemented the recommendations issued from the General Accounting Office (GAO) in July 1998. These recommendations -- steps to take before issuing a single commitment letter -- included: * To conduct detailed reviews of a random sample of E-rate applications to assess the overall effectiveness of program integrity, and undertake corrective actions if necessary; * To finalize procedures, automated systems and internal controls for the post-commitment process, including funds disbursement; * To obtain a report from independent auditors that finds the SLC has developed appropriate internal controls to mitigate against waste, fraud and abuse. In response, FCC Chairman Kennard wrote to the GAO stating that he was "satisfied that the GAO recommendations have been substantially met by SLC." With completion of these milestones, SLC will launch the process of issuing funding commitment decision letters. The SLC anticipates beginning to mail funding commitment letters the middle of this month and that the notification process will continue over several weeks. The SLC will provide a timetable for the waves of funding commitment letters after the first wave has been issued. In light of this timetable, the SLC is still evaluating the timeframe of the application window for the next funding year. The 80-day window is scheduled to open on December 1, 1998 and close on February 19, 1999. As the SLC moves forward, it will continue to update applicants and vendors. Please see the SLC Web Site, www.slcfund.org, for updates. _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/ subscribe.html or send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Carol C. Henderson All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. _________________________________________________________________