Planning for E-Rate Program Management

The Universal Services Administrative Company (USAC) outlines the following plan for E-Rate:

1. Determine eligibility — Federal and state laws determine the eligibility of schools, school districts and libraries. Requirements can be found at

http://www.usac.org/sl/applicants/step01/eligibility-requirements.aspx 

2. Develop a technology plan — An approved technology plan must meet five criteria that address goals, strategies, needs, resources and evaluation. First, the plan must establish clear goals and a realistic strategy for using telecommunications and information technology to improve education or library services.

3. Open a competitive bid process — Use requests for proposal (RFPs) or other solicitation methods tailored to specific needs and circumstances, in addition to the required Form 470.

4. Select your provider — Select the most cost-effective provider of the desired products or services eligible for support, with price as the primary factor.

5. Calculate the discount level — The primary measure for determining schools and libraries support discounts is the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunches under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), calculated by individual schools. More information can be found at http://www.usac.org/sl/applicants/step05/

6. Determine what is eligible — Services and products may be eligible, not eligible or conditionally eligible for support. The schools and libraries' eligible services list provides details about eligible equipment and services, and the conditions under which they are eligible are available at http://www.usac.org/sl/about/overview-process.aspx

7. Submit application for support (Form 471) — Find the form at http://www.usac.org/sl/applicants/step07/

8. Undergo application review.

9. Receive your funding decision — Carefully review your funding commitment decision letter (FCDL) for details of approved or denied requests.

10. Begin receipt of products and services — When submitting an E-Rate order to Dell, please include the following:

• Purchase order (PO) — must be clearly marked E-Rate
• Total dollar amount of the PO
• Schools and libraries division (SLD) — noted in the body of the PO
• Terms — 60 days
• Funding commitment decision letter
• Funding commitment report
• Description of Service (submitted with Form 471)
• Signed copy of Form 486

11. Invoice USAC — Do you need a billed entity application form (BEAR) signed and returned to you? Simply submit the form to Dell through fax, attention Craig Jackson, at 512-283-9477 or email Craig_Jackson@Dell.com. Please state the invoice number and/or the PO of the form; it will be used to file for reimbursement. Please include your contact information and fax number on the cover sheet so that Dell can return the signed form to you. Please note that the original transaction must be paid in full.

E-Rate Eligible Products and Services

The following are the E-Rate eligible products and services:

• Servers
  • Domain name servers
  • Email servers
  • Firewall servers
  • Proxy servers
  • Terminal servers
  • Web servers (to provide information to Internet users)
• Networking products
  • Routers
  • Switches
  • Hubs
  • Wireless networking products
  • Network interface cards (when priced separately on a contract or sold separately)
• Services
  • Installation services for eligible products
  • Maintenance services for eligible products
  • Training on eligible products