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Administrative Procedure:
Selective Review Information Request and Certification
Further Detail:
Billed entities undergoing a Selective Review complete a Selective Review Information Request (SRIR). The SRIR contains a series of questions about the billed entity’s budget, technology plan, and competitive bidding selection process. In addition, it requires the billed entity to demonstrate they have secured the necessary resources to make effective use of any discounted services they receive and that they have a reasonable expectation that they will have the financial resources to pay their non-discounted share. The billed entity must certify the validity of the information provided and that the individual who prepared the responses has the authority to complete the SRIR on behalf of the billed entity.
Rules that this furthers:
1. 47 C.F.R. § 54.504(a)(1) requires that the “FCC Form 471 shall be signed by the person authorized to order telecommunications and other supported services for the eligible school, library, or consortium and shall include that person’s certification[s] under oath . . . ”
2. 47 C.F.R. § 54.504(a)(1)(iii) requires billed entities to certify as follows: “The entities listed on the FCC Form 471 application have secured access to all of the resources, including computers, training, software, maintenance, internal connections, and electrical connections, necessary to make effective use of the services purchased, as well as to pay the discounted charges for eligible services from funds to which access has been secured in the current funding year. The billed entity will pay the non-discount portion of the cost of the goods and services to the service provider(s).”
3. 47 C.F.R. § 54.523 provides as follows: “An eligible school, library, or consortium must pay the non-discount portion of services or products purchased with universal service discounts. An eligible school, library, or consortium may not receive rebates for services or products purchased with universal service discounts. For the purpose of this rule, the provision, by the provider of a supported service, of free services or products unrelated to the supported service or product constitutes a rebate of the non-discount portion of the supported services.”
4. The Commission has clarified the requirements of the “necessary resources” certification as follows: “the necessary resources requirements are satisfied as long as (i) when filing their FCC Form 471 applications, applicants have specific, reasonable expectations of obtaining the funding needed to ensure availability of the necessary resources; (ii) applicants do not authorize USAC to pay support to the service provider for the eligible services until the applicant has received the funding and thus has the necessary resources to pay the applicants’ share of the costs; and (iii) applicants provide sufficient documentation to USAC of such funding and resources availability, as USAC may request.” Request for Review of the Decisions of the Universal Service Administrator by Academy of Excellence, et al., Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism, File No. SLD-261209, CC Docket No. 02-6, Order, 22 FCC Rcd 8722, 8728-29, FCC 07-60, ¶ 11 (2007).
5. The Commission has confirmed USAC’s implementation of the Selective Review procedure to test the necessary resources certification. See e.g., Request for Review of the Decision of the Universal Service Administrator by United Talmudical Academy, Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Changes to the Board of Directors of the National Exchange Carrier Association, File No. SLD-105791, CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 97-21, Order, 15 FCC Rcd 423, 430-31, FCC 00-2, ¶¶ 14-17 (2000); Request for Review of the Decision of the Universal Service Administrator by Laurel Hall School, Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Changes to the Board of Directors of the National Exchange Carrier Association, File No. SLD-148415, CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 97-21, Order, 16 FCC Rcd 7762, 7765-66, DA 01-853, ¶¶ 8-10 (2001); Request for Review of the Decision of the Universal Service Administrator by New Orleans Public Schools et al., Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Changes to the Board of Directors of the National Exchange Carrier Association, File No. SLD-201456, et al., CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 97-21, Order, 16 FCC Rcd 16653, 16658-59, DA 01-2097 ¶¶ 12-13 (2001).
6. 47 C.F.R § 54.701(a) requires USAC to “administer[] the universal service support mechanisms in an efficient, effective, and competitively neutral manner.”
7. 47 C.F.R. § 54.702(g) requires USAC to take “administrative action intended to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.”
How this protects against waste, fraud and abuse:
Ensures that the individual completing the SRIR has the authority to submit documentation and information on behalf of the billed entity, that the billed entity is aware of the funding request, and that the billed entity understands the obligation to expend financial and professional resources.