ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 8, Number 111 October 29, 1999 In this issue: [1] Year Three Begins: File Your E-rate Form 470 NOW!! [2] Milestone: E-rate Discounts Reach All Applicants [1] Year Three Begins: File Your E-rate Form 470 NOW!! Form 470 for E-rate discounts for Year Three is available online and may be filed now at http://www.sl.universalservice.org/ . Applicants are urged to file online and need not wait for the paper copies to be mailed. In addition, filing online expedites processing and helps reduce "fatal" errors -- errors that would stop or delay application processing. Submitting the Form 470 online moves the applicant step-by-step through the process and rejects inappropriate responses. Applicants need not wait for the opening of the Year Three window to file Form 470. The Year Three Form 470 is "evergreen" -- it does not need to be filed every year if the applicant has a multi- year contract. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will open the Year Three widow for Form 471 soon. At their third quarter meeting on October 25, the Universal Service Administrative Company Board adopted a resolution to recommend to the FCC that the window for filing Form 471 for Year Three be opened from November 10, 1999 to January 19, 2000. [2] Milestone: E-rate Discounts Reach All Applicants For the first time since implementation of the E-rate program, ALL applications will receive discounts for all eligible services. That announcement was made during the October 25 third quarter meeting of the Schools and Libraries Committee of the Board of Universal Service Administrative Company, which administers the $2.5 billion used to provide the E-rate discounts. "The concept of universal access to the Internet and the world of information it offers has moved much closer to reality today," said K. G. Ouye, chair of the USAC Board's Schools and Libraries Committee and city librarian for the San Mateo Public Library. "Universal Service funds are indeed fulfilling the promise for our children and communities." Every approved application filed within the Year Two window will receive discounts down to the rate of 20 percent, the smallest available discount level offered by the program. Last year, funding restrictions prohibited the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) from providing discounts for all eligible services or applicants. The Committee also discussed the possibility of Year Two funding commitments being made for applications submitted after the close of the Year Two window. This will be the subject of future SLD and USAC Board discussions and may require action by the FCC. The E-rate (or the universal service program for schools and libraries) discounts are provided for eligible telecommunications services, Internet access and internal connections. For more information on the USAC Board' Schools and Libraries Committee actions and recommendations, or on E-rate/Universal Service, visit the Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) Web site at http://www.ala.org/oitp/univserv.html. ****** 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: Sally Benson, Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet, Carrie Russell, Emily Sheketoff, Saundra Shirley, Claudette Tennant and Rick Weingarten.