**Before the**

**Federal Communications Commission**

**Washington, DC 20554**

In the Matter of )

)

Request for Review of the )

Decision of the )

Universal Service Administrator by )

)

Audrey Pack Memorial Library ) NEC.470.12-09-99.3500063

Spring City, Tennessee )

)

Federal-State Joint Board on ) CC Docket No. 96-45

Universal Service )

)

Changes to the Board of Directors of the ) CC Docket No. 97-21

National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc. )

**order**

**Adopted: March 28, 2001 Released: March 29, 2001**

By the Accounting Policy Division, Common Carrier Bureau:

1.  The Accounting Policy Division has under consideration a waiver
    request filed by the Audrey Pack Memorial Library (Audrey Pack),
    Spring City, Tennessee, seeking review of a decision by the Schools
    and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative
    Company (Administrator).[^1] Audrey Pack requests a waiver of the
    January 19, 2000 FCC Form 471 filing deadline.[^2] For the reasons
    set forth below, we grant Audrey Pack's waiver request.

2.  Under the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism,
    eligible schools, libraries, and consortia that include eligible
    schools and libraries, may apply for discounts for eligible
    telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal
    connections.[^3] In order to receive discounts on eligible services,
    the Commission's rules require that the applicant submit to the
    Administrator a completed FCC Form 470, in which the applicant sets
    forth its technological needs and the services for which it seeks
    discounts[^4][^5] The Administrator must post the FCC Form 470 on
    its website and the applicant is required to wait 28 days before
    making a commitment with a selected service provider[^6][^7] Once
    the applicant has complied with the Commission's competitive bidding
    requirements and entered into an agreement for eligible services, it
    must file an FCC Form 471 application to notify the Administrator of
    the services that have been ordered, the carrier with whom the
    applicant has entered into an agreement, and an estimate of funds
    needed to cover the discounts to be given for eligible services.[^8]
    The Commission's rules require that the applicant file a completed
    FCC Form 471 by the filing window deadline to be considered pursuant
    to the funding priorities for "in-window" applicants.[^9]

3.  Audrey Pack filed its FCC Form 470 on December 9, 1999 for
    discounted services for Funding Year 3. SLD posted Audrey Pack's FCC
    Form 470 to its website on January 7, 2000. The filing window for
    Funding Year 3 closed January 19, 2000, thus, Audrey Pack could not
    have complied with the Commission's 28-day competitive bidding
    requirement and completed its FCC Form 471 within the filing window.
    Knowing that its application could not be completed within the
    filing deadline, Audrey Pack did not file a FCC Form 471, but filed
    a waiver request with SLD on January 19, 2000.[^10] In its letter to
    SLD, Audrey Pack challenged the late posting of its FCC Form 470 to
    SLD's website. SLD responded with an Acknowledgment of Waiver
    Request, informing Audrey Pack that, because the Commission's rules
    did not permit SLD to consider such requests, the applicant had to
    submit any waiver requests to the Commission.[^11] Audrey Pack filed
    the instant waiver request with the Commission on July 3, 2000.[^12]

4.  The Commission may waive any provision of its rules, but a request
    for waiver must be supported by a showing of good cause.[^13] Absent
    special circumstances warranting a deviation from the general rule,
    waivers of filing deadlines should not be granted. We have reviewed
    the record before us and conclude that Audrey Pack has demonstrated
    special circumstances upon which to grant its waiver request.
    Although Audrey Pack timely submitted its FCC Form 470, SLD delayed
    its posting until such time that it was impossible for Audrey Pack
    to comply with our 28-day competitive bidding rule prior to the FCC
    Form 471 filing deadline.

5.  SLD's delay in posting apparently arose from its confusion about
    Audrey Pack's billed entity. Specifically, in Block 4, Item 16 of
    its FCC Form 470, Audrey Pack indicated that it was a single-site
    library. In Block 4, Item 17, however, Audrey Pack listed the billed
    entity as the Town of Spring City. SLD's record reflects that on
    December 13, 2000, SLD contacted Audrey Pack by telephone for
    clarification about the recipient of service. Audrey Pack explained
    that the library requesting funds was a single-site library. Audrey
    Pack's FCC Form 470 should have been posted to the SLD website
    pursuant to the December 13, 2000 conversation. However, SLD did not
    post Audrey Pack's FCC Form 470 until January 7, 2000. This delay
    made it impossible for Audrey Pack to comply with the Commission's
    competitive bidding requirements prior to the FCC Form 471 filing
    deadline. The record shows that Audrey Pack complied with the
    program's requirements in providing additional information to SLD on
    December 13, 2000. Thus, the untimely posting of the FCC Form 470 is
    not attributable to Audrey Pack. We therefore grant Audrey Pack's
    waiver request.

6.  ACCORDINGLY, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to authority delegated under
    sections 0.91, 0.291, 1.3, and 54.722(a) of the Commission\'s rules,
    47 C.F.R. §§ 0.91, 0.291, 1.3 and 54.722(a), that the Waiver Request
    filed by Audrey Pack Memorial Library, Spring City, Tennessee on
    July 3, 2000, IS GRANTED to the extent provide herein. We direct SLD
    to process Audrey Pack's FCC Form 471 as timely filed within the
    filing window.

    FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Mark G. Seifert

Deputy Chief, Accounting Policy Division

> Common Carrier Bureau

[^1]: Letter from John P. Conroy, Audrey Pack Memorial Library, to
    Federal Communications Commission, filed July 3, 2000 (Waiver
    Request).

[^2]: *See id.*

[^3]: 47 C.F.R. §§ 54.502, 54.503.

[^4]: ^?^ 47 C.F.R. §§ 54.504(b)(1), (b)(3).

[^5]: ^4^

[^6]: ^?^ 47 C.F.R. §§ 54.504(b)(3) and (4); § 54.511.

[^7]: ^5^

[^8]: 47 C.F.R. § 54.504(c).

[^9]: 47 C.F.R. §§ 54.504(c); 54.5079(c).

[^10]: Letter from John P. Conroy, Audrey Pack Memorial Library, to
    Schools and Libraries Division, Universal Service Administrative
    Company, filed January 19, 2000.

[^11]: Letter from Schools and Libraries Division, Universal Service
    Administrative Company, to John P. Conroy, Audrey Pack Memorial
    Library, dated June 6, 2000 (Administrator's Decision on Waiver
    Request).

[^12]: *See* Waiver Request.

[^13]: 47 C.F.R. § 1.3; *See* *e.g. Northeast Cellular Telephone Co. v.
    FCC*, 897 F.2d 1164, 1166 (D.C. Cir. 1990), ("Waiver is \[\]
    appropriate if special circumstances warrant a deviation from the
    general rule, and such deviation would better serve the public
    interest than strict adherence to the general rule.").