The Funding Year 2010 (FY2010) application window opened at NOON EST Thursday, December 3 and will close at 11:59 PM EST on Thursday, February 11, 2010. FY2010 begins July 1, 2010 and ends June 30, 2011.
The application window is a period of approximately 70 days during which all initial applications for discount (Form 470) are considered to have arrived on the same day. Although Form 470 can be filed for a particular funding year as soon as USAC posts a notice to that effect on its website(at least 12 months before the start of a funding year), most libraries file during the window each year.
Program requirements state that an applicant’s Technology Plan must be *written* before the Form 470 is filed. WRITTEN does not mean final and approved by the State Library. For this purpose, the plan is written if it
- Exists, electronically or in hard copy, as a document separate from any previous plan
- Addresses the five elements of a Technology Plan as defined by the FCC (http://www.usac.org/sl/applicants/step02/technology-planning/default.aspx)
- Can be documented as existing prior to the date of 470 filing.
The most common ways of documenting the creation date include delivering a copy to yourself (or a library trustee or trustees) by email or USPS; or making the draft plan an agenda item for the board and including a copy with the minutes of the meeting at which it is discussed (whether approved or not).
IF
- you plan to apply for E-rate discounts for Internet access or any telecommunications services other than basic telephone service (defined at http://www.usac.org/sl/applicants/step02/basic-telephone-service.aspx), OR
- your library will be listed on a consortium application such as the Kan-Ed 2.0 network, AND
- you don’t have an approved technology plan covering FY 2010 http://skyways.lib.ks.us/KSL/libtech/TechPlansALL.xls
Then now is the time to write one. You have a few months to polish it up and send it to me for approval.
Don’t think of it as paperwork – it’s the between-Thanksgiving-and-Christmas holiday you’ve always longed for! Kind of.
Happy Open Window Day,
Jeff Hixon
Deputy Director, Statewide Resource Sharing
State Library of Kansas | http://www.kslib.info
300 SW Tenth Avenue | Room 343-N
Topeka, Kansas 66612
Phone: 785.296.3154 | 800.432.3919
Fax: 785.368.7291