![[Table of Contents]](/icons/up.gif){kind=icon}
| FCC Form 471 | Approval by OMB |
| 3060-0806 |
Schools and Libraries Universal Service
Services Ordered and Certification Form
Estimated Average Burden Hours Per Response: 6 hours
Section 54.504 of the Federal Communications Commission's rules requires all schools and libraries ordering services that are eligible for universal service discounts to file this Services Ordered and Certification Form (FCC Form 471) with the Universal Service Administrator, themselves or as part of a consortium. 47 C.F.R. ? 54.504. The collection of information stems from the Commission's authority under Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. ? 254. The data collected in FCC Form 471 will be used to ensure that schools and libraries are receiving the appropriate discounts, complying with the eligibility requirements in 47 C.F.R. ? 54.501, and taking steps required by 47 C.F.R.
? 54.504 that are necessary to use the discounted services effectively. All schools and libraries ordering services eligible for universal service discounts must file this form.
The FCC is authorized under the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, to collect the personal information we request in this form. We will use the information you provide to determine whether approving this application is in the public interest. If we believe there may be a violation or potential violation of an FCC statute, regulation, rule or order, your application may be referred to the Federal, state, or local agency responsible for investigating, prosecuting, enforcing, or implementing the statute, rule, regulation, or order. In certain cases, the information in your application may be disclosed to the Department of Justice or a court or adjudicative body when (a) the FCC; or (b) any employee of the FCC; or (c) the United States Government, is a party of a proceeding before the body or has an interest in the proceeding.
If you owe a past due debt to the federal government, the taxpayer identification number (such as your social security number) and other information you provide may also be disclosed to the Department of the Treasury Financial Management Service, other federal agencies and/or your employer to offset your salary, IRS tax refund, or other payments to collect that debt. The FCC may also provide this information to these agencies through the matching of computer records when authorized.
If you do not provide the information requested on this form, the processing of your application may be delayed or your application may be returned to you without action.
The foregoing Notice is required by the Privacy Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-579, December 31, 1974, 5 U.S.C. ? 552, and the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Pub. L. No. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. ? 3501, et seq. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average six hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, completing, and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the reporting burden, to the Federal Communications Commission, Records Management Branch, Washington, D.C. 20554.
I. INTRODUCTION.
On May 7, 1997, the Commission adopted rules providing discounts on all telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections for all eligible schools and libraries. Section 54.504 of the Commission's rules require all schools and libraries ordering services under this discount mechanism to certify their eligibility to receive discounts. 47 C.F.R. ? 54.504. Section 54.504 of the Commission's rules directs schools and libraries to submit this information on a Services Ordered and Certification Form. 47 C.F.R. ? 54.504.
II. FILING REQUIREMENTS AND GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS.
All schools and libraries, or consortia acting on behalf of schools and libraries, requesting discounts on telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections, hereinafter "eligible services," pursuant to the universal service discount mechanism must file FCC Form 470. Each entity actually paying bills to the service provider for the schools and libraries ("the billed entity") should file a separate FCC Form 471. For this purpose, schools must meet the statutory definition of elementary and secondary schools found in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. ? 8801(14) and (25). An elementary school is "a non-profit day or residential school that provides elementary education, as determined under state law." 47 C.F.R. ? 54.500(a). A secondary school is "a non-profit day or residential school that provides secondary education, as determined under state law. A secondary school does not offer education beyond grade 12." 47 C.F.R. ? 54.500(i). In addition, eligible elementary and secondary schools may not have endowments exceeding $50 million. 47 C.F.R. ? 54.501(b)(3).
Libraries must meet the statutory definition of library or library consortium found in the Library Services and Technology Act, Pub. L. No. 104-208, sec. 211 et seq., 110 Stat. 3009 (1996) (LSTA), and must be eligible for assistance from a state library administrative agency under that Act. A library includes: "(1) a public library; (2) a public elementary school or secondary school library; (3) an academic library; (4) a research library, which for the purposes of this definition means a library that: (i) makes publicly available library services and material suitable for scholarly research and not otherwise available to the public; and (ii) is not an integral part of an institution of higher education; and (5) a private library, but only if the state in which such private library is located determines that the library should be considered a library for purposes of this definition." 47 C.F.R. ? 54.500(d). A library's eligibility for universal service funding also depends on its funding as an independent entity. Only libraries whose budgets are completely separate from any schools are eligible to receive discounted services under the universal service support mechanism. 47 C.F.R. ? 54.501(c)(2). For example, an elementary school library would only be eligible to receive discounted services if its budget were completely separate from the elementary school. If its budget were not completely separate from the elementary school, the elementary school library would not be eligible for support independent from the school with which it is associated.
A library consortium is "any local, statewide, regional, or interstate cooperative association of libraries that provides for the systemic and effective coordination of the resources of school, public, academic, and special libraries and information centers, for improving services to the clientele of such libraries." 47 C.F.R. ? 54.500(e).
One copy of FCC Form 471 must be filed with the Universal Service Administrator each time the applicant seeks a commitment of funding for a specific set of services eligible for discounts under the universal service discount mechanism that it has ordered. The copy must be filed with the Administrator at the address listed at the bottom of the form: Schools and Libraries Corporation, P.O. Box 4217, Iowa City, Iowa 52244-4217. DO NOT FILE THIS OR ANY OTHER UNIVERSAL SERVICE FORM WITH THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION.
Schools and libraries, or consortia acting on behalf of schools and libraries, failing to file the Services Ordered and Certification Form (FCC Form 471) will not be eligible to receive universal service discounts. Schools and libraries filing false information are subject to fines under Section 502 of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. ? 502, forfeiture penalties under Section 503(b) of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. ? 503(b), or penalties for false statements under Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. ? 1001. Applicants should retain the worksheets and other records they use to compile these forms for five years. Thus, if applicants represent multiple billed entities, collect data from those entities, and add up that data, they should retain those data sheets for five years. If an applicant is audited, it should be able to demonstrate to the auditor how the entries in its application were provided.
III. SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS.
Please type or clearly print in the spaces provided and attach additional pages if necessary. This form is also posted on the administrator's website at <>www.slcfund.org> (This website is expected to be available in January). (Ed NOTE: Now located at http://www.sl.universalservice.org/) Further information is available at 888-203-8100. You may file more than one Form 471. For example, you may file one FCC Form 471 for internal connections, one for Internet access, one for high bandwidth video conferencing, and one for other telecommunications services. Alternatively, you may file a single FCC Form 471 that includes any combination of these services. Each billed entity must file a separate FCC Form 471. Thus, even if more than one billed entity filed a single FCC Form 470, each billed entity must file a separate FCC Form 471.
Block 1 of FCC Form 471 is almost identical to Block 1 of Form 470: Description of Services Requested and Certification, except for question 3. Block 1 of FCC Form 471 asks you for your address and basic identifications. "You" refers hereinafter to the applicant -- the entity actually paying bills for eligible schools and libraries ("the billed entity").
Item (1) - Provide the name of your organization. You may be an individual school or library or a consortium, including a school district that is the billed entity for its schools. You may also be a city, a state, or an entity created solely to participate in this universal service discount mechanism, but only if you are the billed entity, in that you actually pay the bills for the service to the service provider.
Item (2) - Provide the funding year, i.e., calendar year, for which you are applying for funds (e.g., "1998").
Item (3a) - If you are an individual school or library, provide the code number that the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) has assigned to you. If NCES has not assigned you such a number, the administrator will create a comparable number for identification purposes. If you do not know your codes, you can use the search system built into the application form for this item, on the administrator's website: <
Item (3b) - The administrator will insert your "471 Application Number."
Item (3c) - Provide your billed entity number. The administrator provides billed entity numbers in Item (19) of FCC Form 470 for all billed entities listed in Item (19). If you were part of an application consortium, but are paying your bills separately, you can obtain the billed entity number from the person that filed the FCC Form 470 on your behalf. Alternatively, you can find it on the administrator's website: : <>www.slcfund.org> (This website is expected to be available in January) (Ed NOTE: Now located at http://www.sl.universalservice.org/) or by calling the administrator at 888-203-8100.
Item (4a) - Check the box that best describes you. A "library consortium under the LSTA" refers to a library consortium as defined in the Library Services and Technology Act. See section II.A of these instructions. If you are ordering services as part of a consortium of schools, libraries, or other entities (other than a library consortium, as defined by the LSTA) you should check the fourth box.
Item (4b) - If you are ordering services as part of a consortium, you should also check all boxes in Item (4b) that apply. If your consortium includes non-governmental entities that are ineligible for support, you should check that box and remember that the pre-discount prices you secure for interstate services from incumbent local telephone companies cannot be below tariffed rates. (Note: Entities eligible for universal service support as "rural health care providers" should be treated as eligible for support for this purpose). Each billed entity will be required to fill out a separate FCC Form 471. You should also indicate if your consortium represents a region within a state, an entire single state, or a multi-state group. If your consortium is a state or local educational agency or an educational service agency, as those terms are defined in 20 U.S.C. ? 8801, you should indicate this by checking the appropriate box. Note that school districts should not also check the box for "local educational agency," and that non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations are NOT governmental entities.
Item (5) - Provide your full mailing address, whether a street address, Post Office Box number, or route number, and your telephone number and e-mail address (if you have one).
Item (6) - Provide the name, address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address, and indicate the preferred mode of contact for the person that should be contacted with questions about the application. This person should be able to answer questions regarding the information included on this form and the services you request, including how to obtain a copy of your request for proposal (RFP), if you have prepared one. IN ADDITION, to help alleviate problems caused if the pages of an application become separated, please provide the name and phone number of the contact person at the top of each page of this form.
Block 2 asks you to indicate the type of your funding request. Check any of the three choices that apply. Note that in Items (15 & 16), below, you will need to indicate on which FCC Form 470 a particular service that you are ordering was requested.
Item (7a) - Check this box if you are seeking support for services under one or more existing, binding contracts that were entered into before the administrator's website was activated. You should also confirm that you filed a FCC Form 470 with regard to each of these contracts, for you may not file a Form 471 unless it is based on a Form 470 that has already been filed.
Item (7b) - Check this box if you are seeking support for services based on a request that you have submitted and that has been posted on the administrator's website.
Item (7c) - Check this box if your request is intended as a modification or supplement to a previously filed FCC Form 471 and provide the 471 Application Number (Item (3b)) from the previous FCC Form 471 that this is modifying or supplementing. If you are adding services in addition to those requested on the previous Form 471, please include only the additional services in this submission. If you are requesting fewer services that those requested on the previous Form 471, please call the administrator at 888-203-8100 to inform it of this change.
Block 3 of FCC Form 471 asks for much of the same type of information collected in FCC Form 470, Blocks 2 & 3. In Block 3 of FCC Form 471, however, you should provide estimates based on the schools and libraries covered by your particular funding request. These schools and libraries may be a subset of the entities covered in the FCC Form 470 upon which this FCC Form 471 is based. For example, an entire state may file an FCC Form 470 for a master contract (i.e., a contract negotiated by a consortium, state, or other entity on behalf of multiple entities leaving it up to the individual entities to order the services they desire) on behalf of all of its public school districts. An individual school district buying off of that master contract may file an FCC Form 471 for the services eligible for universal service discounts that it is purchasing. In such a situation, the individual school district would complete Block 3 as it applies to that district's needs.
Item (8a) - If your applicant group includes eligible K-12 schools, provide the total number of students in those schools.
Item (8b) - If your applicant group includes eligible libraries, provide the approximate number of patrons served as defined by either the census population within your service area or the number of cardholders you serve.
Item (9) - Provide the approximate total number of buildings for which you seek some form of telecommunications-related service.
Item (10) - Provide the approximate total number of rooms for which you are ordering service.
Items (11-13) - Provide particular information about the services you currently receive and the services that you will have after you have received the new services ordered. Complete components of this section that relate to the services for which you are requesting a discount.
Item (11a) - Provide the number of telephones (or fax machines or other devices that may terminate or originate what are commonly considered "calls") that currently have service (column two) and the total number that will have service after you have received the new services ordered (column three). Do not include "extension" phones.
Item (11b) - Provide the number of your computers that are already linked to other computers (column two) and total number that will be linked to other computers after you have received the new services ordered (column three).
Item (11c) - Provide the number of high bandwidth video conferencing links you currently maintain (column two) and that you will have after you have received the new links ordered (column three).
Item (12a) - Provide the number of different buildings for which you already have one or more classrooms that have telecommunications connections to each other (column two) and the total number of buildings that will have one or more classrooms with telecommunications connections to each other after you have received the new services ordered (column three).
Item (12b) - Provide the total number of rooms in the buildings for which you already have one or more classrooms that have telecommunications connections to each other (column two) and the total number of rooms that will have telecommunications connections to each other after you have received the new services ordered (column three).
Item (12c) - Indicate the highest line speed you have for your current internal connections (column two) and the highest speed you will have after you have received the new services ordered (column three).
Item (13a) - Provide the number of dial up connections to the Internet that you have (column two) and that you will have after you have received the new services ordered (column three). This would include the number of "subscriptions" that you have and that you will have that allow simultaneous connections to the Internet by dialing a particular telephone number of an Internet service provider.
Item (13b) - Indicate the highest line speed of such dial up connection to the Internet that you have (column two) and will have after you have received the new services ordered (column three).
Item (13c) - Provide the number of direct connections to the Internet that you have (column two) and will have after you have received the new services ordered (column three). Direct connections to the Internet are dedicated links that go directly to an Internet service provider and are not available for ordinary voice phone calls.
Item (13d) - Indicate the highest speed of such direct connections to the Internet that you have (column two) and that you will have after you have received the new services ordered (column three).
Item (14) - If you have already filled out the information in this chart for the same parties and it is current, you may attach a copy of the previous sheet that you have filed. Note: In future years, if you file electronically, the administrator's website will automatically fill in this table with the data from your most recent FCC Form 471 filing, permitting you to limit yourself to only making the necessary modifications to that data.
If you are a billed entity that represents multiple school districts or library systems, each of which reimburses you for its portion of its charges for eligible services, you should fill out a separate Item (14) Table for each of those school districts and library systems so that you can calculate separately the appropriate discount rate for shared services. This is necessary to comply with 47 C.F.R. ? 54.505(d), which requires that "[e]ach eligible school, school district, library, or library consortia will be credited with the discount to which it is entitled." If the discount rates for different schools districts or library systems are different, you should request that the service provider provide you with the appropriate discounts for each school district or library system. For example, the service provider might bill each school district or library system as a different sub-account.
Item (14, column 1) - List the names of all of the schools or libraries represented by the billed entity filling out this form. List each school or library on a separate row.
Item (14, column 2) - Provide the code number that the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) has assigned to each of the schools and libraries that you have listed in column one. If NCES has not assigned such a number, the administrator will create a comparable number for identification purposes. If you do not know your codes, you can find them by either looking at the list of all schools and libraries and their NCES or comparable code numbers, which the administrator will post on its website: <www.slcfund.org> (This website is expected to be available in January) (Ed NOTE: Now located at http://www.sl.universalservice.org/) or by calling the administrator at 888-203-8100.
Item (14, column 3) - Indicate whether each school or library is located in an urban or a rural area. You should base your assessment on the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) list posted on NECA's website < www.neca.org> and on the administrator's website <www.slcfund.org> (This website is expected to be available in January). (Ed NOTE: Now located at http://www.sl.universalservice.org/) Instructions accompanying the MSA list will help you determine whether the school or library is located in an urban or a rural area for purposes of the universal service support mechanism.
Item (14, column 4) - If the entity is an individual school, you should provide its total number of students. If it is a library, you should provide the NCES school code for a school within the district in which it is located. (Because a library's level of discount depends upon the poverty level of the school district in which it is located, the school code will enable the administrator to identify the relevant school district to determine the library's discount percentage.) The library may secure that school code by checking the administrator's website, asking the school or school district, or contacting the administrator at 888-203-8100. A library may also obtain the actual percentage discount figure by contacting the school district.
Item (14, column 5) - If the entity is a school, you should provide the number of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program as of the December 1st prior to the filing of this form. Schools may choose to use an actual count of students eligible for the national school lunch program or may calculate that number using a federally approved alternative mechanism. Schools choosing not to use an actual count of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program may use only the federally approved alternative mechanisms contained in the Improving America's Schools Act (34 C.F.R. ? 200.28(a)(2)(i)(B)). That rule states that private schools without access to the same poverty data that public schools use to count children from low-income families may use comparable data "(1) [c]ollected through alternative means such as a survey" or "(2) [f]rom existing sources such as AFDC [Aid to Families with Dependent Children] or tuition scholarship programs." See 34 C.F.R. ? 200.28(a)(2)(i)(B). It should be noted, however, that AFDC will be altered significantly by the recently-enacted welfare reform law. Schools using a federally approved alternative mechanism may use participation in other income-assistance programs, such as Medicaid, food stamps, or Supplementary Security Income (SSI), to determine the number of students that would be eligible for the National School Lunch Program.
Item (14, column 6) - Using the information in columns four through six and the FCC Discount Matrix (see below), you should determine the percentage discount to which each school or library is entitled. If you have any questions about determining this figure you can call the administrator at 888-203-8100. The administrator will verify this figure.
|
SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES DISCOUNT MATRIX
|
DISCOUNT LEVEL |
|
|
HOW DISADVANTAGED? |
urban discount (%) |
rural discount (%) |
|
% of students eligible for national school lunch program |
||
|
< 1 |
20 |
25 |
|
1-19 |
40 |
50 |
|
20-34 |
50 |
60 |
|
35-49 |
60 |
70 |
|
50-74 |
80 |
80 |
|
75-100 |
90 |
90 |
-###-
[FCC Form 471 - continued ]