To provide relief to E-Rate program participants in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) has temporarily waived and extended several E-Rate filing and service implementation deadlines. The WCB also directs the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to provide all program participants an automatic 30-day extension to respond to information requests related to pending appeals, invoices, FCC Form 500 requests, and audits. To alleviate administrative burdens, the WCB waives the following deadlines: (1) the service implementation deadline for non-recurring services for funding year 2019; (2) the deadline for the installation of special construction equipment for all funding year 2019 applicants, as well as funding year 2018 applicants that already received a one-year extension; (3) deadlines for requests for review or waiver of decisions by USAC, whether directed to USAC or the FCC; (4) the invoice filing deadline; and (5) the deadline for filing the FCC Form 486 (Receipt of Service Confirmation and Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) Certification Form).
