The Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC, Commission) has issued an Order extending the funding year 2022 Rural Health Care (RHC) application filing window until June 1, 2022. Section 54.621(a)(1) of the FCC’s rules requires that the RHC filing window close 90 days before the start of the funding year, which begins on July 1, 2022. WCB has decided to waive that rule and extend the filing window this year, as it did the prior two years, in light of the “persistent and ongoing disruptions caused by the COVID‑19 pandemic,” and specifically the surge caused by the Omicron variant at the start of this year’s application window. In addition, WCB has extended two related deadlines for the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), which now must (1) file the RHC Program gross demand estimate by August 1, 2022, and (2) make the determination of the amount of unused funding from previous funding years available to carry forward to the current funding year in the third quarter of 2022.
