ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 8, Number 38 April 22, 1999 In this issue: [1] SLD Reports $2.435 Billion Demand For Year 2 E-rate Discounts; Action Needed: Ask FCC to Fund Full E-rate Cap [2] Year 3 Task Force Recommends E-rate Improvements [3] SLD Changes Web Site Address [1] SLD Reports $2.435 Billion Demand For Year 2 E-rate Discounts; Action Needed: Ask FCC to Fund Full E-rate Cap Application totals for Year 2 of the E-rate discounts are an estimated $2.435 billion, which exceed the $2.25 billion program cap, according to the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). More than 32,000 schools and libraries submitted applications for this year -- 2,000 more than in Year 1. This demand will be taken into consideration in the next few weeks by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as they set this year's collection level. The $2.435 billion figure shows a strong increase over Year 1's total discounts of $2.02 billion. Year 2 requests appear to break down into about the same percentages for telecommunications services, costs of ISPs and internal connections as Year 1. Clearly participation in the program has grown as more libraries and schools have seen the benefits of the E-rate in making telecommunications more affordable. ACTION NEEDED: E-rate supporters should contact the FCC and ask commissioners to meet the full demand to reach the allowable cap of $2.25 billion for the schools and libraries portion of the universal service fund. Anything short of the cap would reduce the amount of discounts available for all applicants. When writing, please refer to Open Docket #96-45. The NEW mailing address is: Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th St., SW, Washington, D.C. 20554. Commissioners may also be reached by e-mail: Chairman William Kennard: wkenndard@fcc.gov Commissioner Susan Ness: sness@fcc.gov Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth: hfurchtg@fcc.gov Commissioner Michael Powell: mpowell@fcc.gov Commissioners Gloria Tristani: gtristan@fcc.gov [2] Year 3 Task Force Recommends E-rate Improvements On April 19 the Year 3 Task Force presented its first set of recommendations to the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The members of the Task Force agreed that there is concern about systemic lack of clarity and flexibility in three areas: (1) types of services, (2) sites of services, and (3) uses of those services available for discount in the E-rate program. The recommendations will also be presented to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) because many of the changes will require action by the FCC. Subsequent recommendations will follow. The first recommendations, summarized below, represent the unanimous position of the Task Force members as important to improving the application process. The full executive summary is available at http://www.ala.org/oitp/year3.html YEAR 3 TASK FORCE SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS (4/19/99) 1. Program funding level to be at $2.25 billion/year; 2. Level should be set and known before application process begins; 3. Allow Form 470 to be filed at any time needed to initiate a procurement process; 4. Allow Form 470 to be filed once per contract, every year for a tariffed service; 5. Form 471 must be filed every year applicants request discounts; 6. Form 471 will continue to be in a window, Form 470s will not; 7. For ongoing services, a Form 486 isn't necessary unless tech plan has not been approved or uncertain that authorizing payment of the vendor is appropriate before services are provided; 8. Form 486 could be used as a Restart payment form; 9. All forms should be simplified, streamlined, and approved; An E-Z form may be necessary; 10. SLD should do everything possible to improve process, including customer service, review of applications, help desk, etc. The 16-member Year 3 Task Force was created by the SLD to evaluate the application process and propose changes that would benefit applicants, service providers and the program administrator. Library members of the Year 3 Task Force are: Phyllis Albritton, Colorado State Library; Barbara Smith, Montgomery County (MD) Library System; and Tony Wening, Missouri Research and Education Network. The Task Force agreed to meet again to further discuss the issues surrounding eligible services. [3] SLD Changes Web Site Address The SLD has changed its Web address and is redesigning the Web site. The new URL is: www.sl.universalservice.org This change reflects the SLD merger with the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The parent USAC Web Site is: www.universalservice.org The SLD reports that the SLD Web site will be designed in a similar fashion. Comments and suggestions about improving the SLD Web site may be sent to: comments@universalservice.org SLD intends to develop a more user-friendly structure and will be incorporating a search engine, a more widely accessible Online Form 471, and a detailed site map. For the next six months, users will be redirected to the new URL when logging onto the original Web address (www.slcfund.org). ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Editor: Lynne E. Bradley; Managing Editor: Deirdre Herman; Contributors: Phyllis Albritton, Mary Costabile, Carol Henderson, Peter Kaplan, Claudette Tennant and Rick Weingarten.