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Item (14, column 7) - Check this box if the school listed in column one will be using any of the "shared services" listed in Item (15) during the funding year.
Item (14, bottom row) - Calculate the discount percentage applicable for shared services ordered by the billed entity as follows. First, calculate the appropriate discount rate for each individual school or library (Item 14, column 6)). Second, for schools, for each school receiving an appropriate share of shared services, multiply the discount rate for the school (column 6) by the number of students in the school (column 4). Add up the total for all schools and divide the total by the total number of students in all the schools receiving an appropriate share of shared services. Round the result to the nearest percentage point. For libraries, add up the discount rates (column 6) for all the libraries receiving an appropriate share of shared services, and divide by the total number of those libraries. Round the result to the nearest percentage point.
Block 5 asks you to provide information about the eligible services that you have ordered, which will enable the administrator to estimate your funding needs. You must base your spending estimates on the amounts you are willing and able to spend to cover the charges for purchases after the discount has been applied. Thus, you may not seek a commitment for support that would require you to spend more than you have budgeted or intend to budget for the funding year at issue. You may round dollar amounts to the nearest dollar, but please use numerals and include all digits. DO NOT use words such as 1 million, in place of 1,000,000.
Eligible telecommunications-related purchases must be listed in either Item (15) OR Item (16). No purchase may be double-counted by being listed in both. Services that are strictly site specific should be listed in Item (16). These would only include: (1) internal connections, e.g., wiring or a wireless service, for a single school or library that is not available at any other school or library served by the billed entity; or (2) dedicated ("private line") connections from a single school or library to another end-user outside of the school district or library system or to an Internet service provider. For these purposes, site specific services do NOT include dedicated connections from individual schools or libraries to a district office or even to a telecommunications company central office, for those connections are not dedicated connections to an end-user or Internet service provider. For the purposes of Items (15 and 16), the latter connections are recognized as "shared" connections to a network. The only kind of connections that should be included in Item (16) are connections between a single school or library and a separate destination other than the facility of a provider of telecommunications or between a single school or library and an Internet service provider. All other eligible purchases should be listed in Item (15).
Item (15, column 1) - Provide the Schools and Library Corporation (SLC) service provider number for each service provider with whom one of your billed entities has contracted for eligible services and from which the billed entity seeks discounts. If you do not know the service provider number, you can use the search system built into the application form for this item on the administrator's website. If you are submitting Form 471 by paper and you do not know the service provider number, please provide the full legal name of the service provider in this item.
Item (15, column 2) - Provide the "Universal Service Control Number" from Item (3b) of the FCC Form 470 in which the services ordered here were sought. FCC Form 470 applicants will receive this number when they receive confirmation that their FCC Form 470 has been received and posted.
Item (15, columns 3-5) - Provide information about the contracts signed or other purchase agreements reached by the billed entity on which you seek discounts for eligible services. In column three, you must provide the contract number, if any, for the contracts signed by the billed entities for telecommunications services, internal connections, or Internet access. If the contract does not have a contract number, but has some other reference number, you should note that number. This number is to help the administrator identify the agreement if the administrator seeks to verify your contract terms. If you choose to purchase service at a tariffed rate, you should provide a tariff reference number for your service order instead of a contract number. In columns four and five, you must provide the award date and expiration date of each contract. If your tariffed rate is for a month-to-month period, you should insert the letter "T" (for tariffed rate) in both columns four and five.
If the billed entity orders services from a service provider based on different FCC Form 470s, then you should list the services corresponding to each FCC Form 470 in separate rows associated with the relevant FCC Form 470 number. When listing the services each service provider provides based on a single FCC Form 470, you should group them according to whether they represent Telecommunication Services, Internet Access, or Internal Connections. You should attach additional sheets of paper, as necessary, to complete Item (15). If you choose, you may provide more detailed information in Item (15) regarding the specific eligible services for which you request discounts. Such additional information, however, is not required.
YOU MAY NOT SEEK SUPPORT ON THIS FORM FOR INELIGIBLE SERVICES. You MAY NOT include any ineligible services in Items (15 or 16), nor may you include services provided to ineligible entities.
If you have any questions about whether a service is or is not eligible for support, you should confirm that a purchase is only for eligible services BEFORE submitting Form 471. You may contact the administrator with questions at 888-203-8100 or check the FCC website <http://www.fcc.gov> for frequently asked questions (FAQs). You may also file a separate Form 471 for services that you know are eligible while awaiting clarification on other purchases. You are responsible for confirming the eligibility of a purchase before you seek support for that purchase.
Software provided by Internet service provider - You may receive discounts on access to the Internet but not on separate charges for particular proprietary content or other information services or a package including content and conduit, unless the bundled package included minimal content and provided a more cost-effective means of securing non-content access to the Internet than other non-content alternatives. Thus, if a service provider that bundles Internet access with a package of content that is available free of charge, the entire price of that bundle will be eligible for support. If the service provider offers Internet users access to its proprietary content for a price, you may treat the difference between that price and the price it charges for its access-only package as the price of non-content Internet access. For example, if an interexchange carrier (IXC) offers a $50 per month service that includes unlimited Internet access, as well as free access to particular proprietary educational software services, and the proprietary services are available independently for $30 per month, you may receive a discount on $50 - $30 = $20 per month. Finally, if a service provider offers a bundled package of Internet access and content that it does not offer on an unbundled basis and thus, the fair price of the conduit element cannot be ascertained readily, you may only receive support for such an Internet access package if you can affirmatively show that the price of the Internet access package is still the most cost-effective manner for you to secure basic, conduit access to the Internet.
Eligible services bundled with ineligible services - While you may contract with the same entity for both supported and unsupported services, you may only receive support if any purchase agreement covering eligible services specifically prices those services separately from ineligible services so that it will be easy to identify the purchase amount that is eligible for a discount. Consequently, where the service provider indicates separately what the prices of the eligible and ineligible offerings would be if offered on an unbundled basis, the service provider must indicate the "price reduction" that would apply if the services are purchased together. The provider would then be able to apply the appropriate universal service support discount to the price for the eligible services after reducing the price to reflect a proportional amount of the "price reduction" the provider applied. For example, if a provider offers to sell a school an eligible service for $10.00 and an ineligible service for $20.00, but also offers the eligible and ineligible services as a bundle for $24.00, this would indicate that the provider is offering a $6.00, or 20%, price reduction. Therefore, the school could treat $10.00 - 20% = $8.00 as eligible for universal service support.
Services shared by eligible and ineligible entities - When you share a service with an ineligible entity, the provider may only receive support for that portion of the service that eligible entities are receiving. To help auditors confirm that this rule is being observed, you must keep and retain careful records of how you have allocated the costs of shared facilities among eligible and ineligible entities. You should maintain these records on some reasonable basis, consistent with any measures that may be established by the Commission, the administrator, or state commissions.
Item (15, column 7) - For each contract and service listed separately, you should indicate the service start date in column seven. Note that, discounts will not be provided to the extent that services are received before January 1, 1998.
Item (15, columns 8-10) - For each of the services you have listed, you must estimate the pre-discount amounts you will be charged. The pre-discount price is the total amount charged for the service, before application of the discount for which you qualify.
Item (15, column 8) - Estimate your non-recurring (one time) pre-discount charges for each service listed here. If you expect to pay this in multiple installments over the funding year, you should amortize this estimate as part of monthly charges in column nine, not in column eight. DO NOT include this amount in both column eight and column nine.
Item (15, column 9) - Estimate your monthly pre-discount charges for each of the services listed here. If you expect to pay a non-recurring charge in multiple installments over the funding year, you should amortize this estimate as part of monthly charges in column nine, not in column eight. DO NOT include this amount in both column eight and column nine.
Item (15, column 10) - Give your best estimate of the total pre-discount charges you expect to incur for each of the services listed here. The total estimated pre-discount cost that you list here is the figure that the administrator will use to calculate the amount of support that it will commit to provide with respect to services purchased by each billed entity. This amount should reflect the sum of column eight and a multiple of column nine, which multiple corresponds to the number of eligible months in your contract for the funding year.
Note that if you are seeking support on explicit or implicit multi-year contracts, you may only request funding for that portion of the contract that is delivered in the relevant funding year.
Item (15, column 11) - If all schools in a school district or all library branches in a library system will be receiving an appropriate share of the benefits from shared services over the next five years, you should provide the average percentage discount for the school district or library system calculated in Item (14). The same average discount calculated in Item (14, bottom row) should be applied to every contract for shared services listed in Item (15). If only a subset of the schools in a school district or library branches in a library system will be receiving an appropriate share of the benefits from the shared services over the next five years, you should use the figures in Item (14) to calculate an appropriate average discount for those shared services.
If you are a billed entity that represents multiple school districts or library systems, each of which reimburses you for the portion it charges for eligible services, and if the discount rates for each of those districts or systems are different, calculate the multi-district discount rate by computing a straight average of the discount rates of each school district or library system. As indicated in Item (14) above, however, the billed entity must assure that each of the districts reimbursing that entity receives the discount rate to which it is entitled.
Item (16, columns 1-11) - Follow the same instructions for Item (16, columns 1-11) as for Item (15, columns 1-11)
Item (16, column 12) - Provide the code number that the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) has assigned to each individual school or library that will receive site-specific service. If NCES has not assigned a number to your school or library, 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 Item 3(a), 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/) It permits you to enter your zip code and then select from the list of schools and libraries in your zip code. When you select your school or library, the system will provide the appropriate code. Alternatively, you may call the administrator at 888-203-8100.
Item (17) - For each service provider listed in Items (15 & 16), please attach -- in an appendix to this form -- a list of all of the services that it is providing on which discounts are being sought. You should collect these lists by requesting them from each service provider. You may require the service provider to provide this list as a condition or term of your contract or service agreement. Both you and service providers are responsible for ensuring that discounts are only being sought for eligible services. If the administrator discovers that discounts are being sought for services that are not eligible for support, such discounts will not be provided and the administrator will take any other appropriate action.
Item (18) - The administrator will estimate the total dollar amount of support that you are requesting in the current funding year based on the information you provide in Items (15-16). This is the total amount of support that the administrator will reserve for reimbursing service providers listed in Items (15-16) for the discounts they provide to the billed entities listed in Item (15-16). The administrator will use the figures in Item (16) to make this estimate for the entire funding year (Item 18a). In addition, because there is a funding cap of $1 billion for services used in the first six months of the initial funding year, the administrator will estimate your need for support for services that will be used in the first six months of 1998 in Item (18b). If the funding request is approved, the administrator shall set aside the estimated levels of funds requested for the service providers serving you. If you actually require less support, the residual amount shall be available to others or be carried forward for use of applicants in future funding years. If you find that you will actually need more funding than your initial estimate, such funding will be provided to the extent that funds are available at the time of additional support is requested. To secure a commitment of additional funds, you must file a supplementary Form 471.
Item (19) - Make a good faith estimate of your likely demand for eligible services in the funding year following the one to which this application applies. Your estimated pre-discount total price is not binding on you, but it will be used by the administrator to estimate total demand for the following year and whether there will be sufficient funds available to provide support for the predicted future demand. If the administrator predicts that demand will exceed the support available, it may recommend that the Commission adopt adjustments to the discount levels.
Item (20) - If your application is solely for basic voice telephone service, check yes. This information will enable the administrator to identify which applicants may be eligible for priority funding in the event that only $250 million in funding remains under the funding cap and the trigger is reached. In that case, applicants that have not received any funding for services other than basic telephone service and are eligible for the highest discounts (80% or 90%) continue to retain eligibility for the highest funding priority. 47 C.F.R. ? 54.507(f)(2)
Block 6 requires schools and libraries to certify certain information. This information is required to ensure that only eligible entities receive support under the universal service discount mechanism.
Item (21) - This item is identical to Item (21) on FCC Form 470. Certify that you are an eligible school or library. If your application includes schools and all of the information in Item (21a) is true of those schools seeking to receive discounted services, you should check the box in Item (21a). If your applicant includes schools and any of the information in Item (21a) is not true for the schools seeking to receive discounted services, those schools are not eligible to receive support under the universal service discount mechanism.
If your application includes libraries or library consortia and all of the information in Item (21b) is true of the libraries seeking to receive discounted services, you should check the box in Item (21b). If your application includes libraries or library consortia and any of the information is not true for the libraries or library consortia seeking to receive discounted services, those libraries or library consortia are not eligible to receive support under the universal service discount mechanism.
Item (22) - Certify that your current budget and any other budgets applicable to the current funding year for the universal service discount mechanism will provide you with sufficient funding to purchase all of the resources that are necessary for you to utilize the eligible services you have listed in Items (15-16) effectively, including computers, training, software, maintenance, electrical connections, and eligible services at discounted prices.
Items (23 and 24) repeat the certifications in FCC Form 470: Items (22 and 23). They concern the technology plans that must be prepared before schools and libraries may apply for discounted services under the universal service support mechanism. The only schools and libraries that do not have to comply with the technology plan requirement are those entities requesting support for voice services (i.e., telephone service) only.
Item (23) - If all of the schools, libraries, and library consortia listed in Item (14) are covered by individual or multi-entity technology plans for the services requested in your application, you should check the box in Item (25). Technology plans that have been approved for other purposes, e.g., for participation in federal or state programs such as "Goals 2000" and the Technology Literacy Challenge, will be accepted without need for further independent approval. Note: No support will be provided to any service providers until the submission of FCC Form 486, certifying that the technology plan(s) covering the relevant schools and libraries has/have been approved.
Item (24) - Indicate either that the technology plan(s) that covers you has been approved (Item (25a)) or that you are currently seeking approval of your technology plan(s). If you are seeking approval from a state or other authorized body, you should check the box in Item (25b). If, instead, you will be submitting your technology plan(s) to the Schools and Libraries Corporation for approval, you should check the box in Item (25c).
Item (25) - Certify that you have complied with all applicable state and local laws or rules regarding procurement. The Commission's rules are not intended to preempt state or local procurement rules.
Item (26) repeats the certification in Item (24) of FCC Form 470. Certify that services ordered pursuant to the universal service discount mechanism will be used for educational purposes only and that the services will not be sold, resold, or transferred in consideration for money or any other thing of value.
Item (27) - Certify that you understand that the discount level used for shared services is conditional, for future years, upon ensuring that the most disadvantaged schools and libraries that are treated as sharing in the shared services receive an appropriate share of benefits from those services, as defined by the Commission.
Item (28) - Certify that you are aware that you may be audited under this mechanism to ensure that the information that you are providing in this form is accurate and that you are abiding by all of the relevant regulations. You must also commit to retain any and all worksheets and other records that you have relied upon to fill out FCC Form 471 for five years so that an auditor can verify the accuracy of the information you provide. 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.
Item (29) requires the person authorized to complete FCC Form 471 to certify to the accuracy of the form.
Item (30): For applicants filing electronically: When you have completed this form, use your browser to print Block 6. When you print Block 6 using the browser, the form will automatically include your Form 470 Universal Service Control Number, Applicant Name, and Applicant Address. Item (30) must be signed by the person who will certify to the accuracy of the information on the form. Mail the signed Block 6 to: Schools and Libraries Corporation, P.O. Box 4217, Iowa City, Iowa 52244-4217. Note: Do not mail the complete Form 471; mail only the signed Block 6.
IV. REMINDERS.
