Administrative Procedure:
Invoice Deadline Extension
Further Detail:
USAC grants requests for extensions of time to invoice USAC under the circumstances listed below:
Authorized service provider changes;
Authorized service substitutions;
USAC did not provide timely notice to the applicant and/or service provider. For example, the service provider's FCC Form 486 Notification Letter is returned to USAC as undeliverable;
USAC made an error that resulted in the invoice being entered into its data systems late. For example, USAC made an error in the data entry of an invoice;
USAC delays in data entering caused the form and invoice to be filed late;
Documentation requirements required third party contact or certification;
Natural or man-made disasters prevented timely filing of invoices;
Need for Good Samaritan Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) form; or
Circumstances beyond the service provider’s control.
Rules that this furthers:
1. 47 C.F.R. § 54.507(b) provides that (with the exception of Funding Year 1998), “[a] funding year for purposes of the schools and libraries cap shall be the period July 1 through June 30.”
2. 47 C.F.R. § 54.507(d) requires applicants to file funding requests on an annual basis; to “use recurring services for which discounts have been committed by the Administrator within the funding year for which the discounts were sought;” establishes deadlines for implementation of non-recurring services; and the criteria for USAC to use to determine whether an applicant’s request for an extension of the implementation deadline can be granted.
3. 47 C.F.R. § 54.515(b) requires USAC to reimburse service providers “no later than the end of the first quarter of the calendar year following the year in which the costs were incurred and the offset against the carrier’s universal service obligation was applied.”
4. 47 C.F.R § 54.701(a) requires USAC to “administer[ ] the universal service support mechanisms in an efficient, effective, and competitively neutral manner.”
5. 47 C.F.R. § 54.702(g) requires USAC to take “administrative action intended to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.”
6. The USAC Board of Directors established deadlines for the submission of invoices and approved the following criteria for the limited circumstances under which a deadline could be set aside:
a. An applicant or service provider had no basis upon which to submit forms, data or invoices before the administrative deadline (for example, a funding commitment decision letter was not issued until after the administrative deadline).
b. An applicant or service provider prevailed on appeal either to the Administrator or the FCC, but a decision was not rendered in time to meet the Administrator’s deadline for processing disbursements. The applicant and service provider, upon receipt of the appeal decision letter, must have filed the appropriate forms or invoices within any new timelines established by the Administrator.
c. The Commission granted an extension for an applicant to expend the funds and therefore it was not possible to submit the appropriate forms or invoices for payment within the Administrator’s deadlines.12
d. An applicant or service provider submitted the forms or invoices before the deadline and did not receive payment due to USAC error or delay.
e. An act of God which prevented the timely submission of forms or invoices for payment.13
How this furthers program integrity:
Ensures that applicants and service providers are allowed extra time to submit invoices where such an extension of time is warranted.