**Before the**

**Federal Communications Commission**

**Washington, DC 20554**

In the Matter of )

)

Request for Waiver by )

)

Edgerton Public School ) NEC.471.07-17-00.34300002

Edgerton, Minnesota )

)

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: December 3, 2001 Released: December 4, 2001**

By the Accounting Policy Division, Common Carrier Bureau:

1.  The Accounting Policy Division has under consideration a Waiver
    Request filed by Edgerton Public School (Edgerton), Edgerton,
    Minnesota.[^1] Edgerton seeks a waiver of the Commission's rules
    governing discounts for services under the schools and libraries
    universal service support mechanism.[^2] For the reasons set forth
    below, we deny Edgerton'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
    Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service
    Administrative Company (Administrator) a completed FCC Form 470, in
    which the applicant sets forth its technological needs and the
    services for which it seeks discounts[^4]^3^ 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.[^5] 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.[^6] In Block 6 of the FCC Form 471, applicants
    are required to make certain certifications, including certification
    of compliance with state and local procurement laws, and the status
    of the entity's technology plan.[^7] Applicants that file their FCC
    Forms 471 electronically, using the Administrator's website, are
    required to separately submit a signed Block 6 certification.[^8]

3.  The Commission's rules allow the Administrator to implement an
    internal filing period ("filing window") for the FCC Form 471
    applications that treats all schools and libraries filing within
    that period as if their applications were simultaneously
    received.[^9] Applications that are received outside this filing
    window are subject to separate funding priorities under the
    Commission's rules.[^10] It is to all applicants' advantage,
    therefore, to ensure that the Administrator receives their
    applications prior to the close of the filing window. In Funding
    Year 2, the filing window for the FCC Forms 471 closed on March 31,
    2000.[^11] The deadline for SLD to receive certifications from
    applicants was July 15, 2000.[^12]

4.  Edgerton requests a waiver of the Funding Year 2 application window.
    Edgerton filed its FCC Form 471 within the filing window on March
    25, 1999.[^13] However, according to SLD's records, Edgerton did not
    submit its Block 6 certification at that time.[^14] On June 30,
    2000, SLD sent a letter to Edgerton informing it that SLD had not
    received its Block 6 certification, and that the deadline for
    receiving it was July 15, 2000.[^15] Edgerton contends that it
    received SLD's letter on June 30, 2000.[^16] Edgerton re-signed a
    copy of the Block 6 certification on July 12, 2000, and mailed it to
    SLD.[^17] SLD received it after the July 15 deadline, on July 17,
    2000.[^18] Consequently, by letter dated July 21, 2000, SLD informed
    Edgerton that its application was filed outside the filing
    window.[^19]

5.  We conclude that Edgerton has not demonstrated a sufficient basis
    for waiving the Commission's rules. 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.[^20] In requesting funds from the
    schools and libraries universal service support mechanism, the
    applicant has certain responsibilities. The applicant bears the
    burden of getting its forms and other information to SLD for
    processing within the established deadline if the applicant wishes
    to be considered with other in-window applicants.

6.  The particular facts of this case do not rise to the level of
    special circumstances required for a deviation from the general
    rule. Although the Block 6 certification that Edgerton re-signed and
    submitted on July 17, 2000 is originally dated March 30, 1999, there
    is no evidence in the record that SLD received it prior to mailing
    the June 30, 2000 notification to SLD. Even after Edgerton was made
    aware by the June 30, 2000 notice that the deadline for filing the
    certification was July 15, 2000, it signed and apparently mailed the
    certification by non-express mail on July 12, 2000, allowing limited
    time for delivery.[^21] It is incumbent upon applicants to
    anticipate and allow for unexpected yet reasonably foreseeable
    circumstances, such as postal delay, in submitting program
    applications.[^22] Under the totality of the circumstances, we
    decline to grant Edgerton's waiver request.

7.  In light of the thousands of applications that SLD reviews and
    processes each year, it is administratively necessary to place on
    the applicant the responsibility of complying with all relevant
    rules and procedures. [^23] In order for the program to work
    efficiently, the applicant must assume responsibility for timely
    submission of its application materials if it wishes to be
    considered within the window. Here, Edgerton fails to present good
    cause as to why it could not timely file its application. We
    therefore find no basis for waiving the filing window deadline.

8.  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 Edgerton Public School, Edgerton, Minnesota, on
    August 15, 2000, IS DENIED.

    FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

    Mark G. Seifert

    Deputy Chief, Accounting Policy Division

    Common Carrier Bureau

[^1]: Letter from LeRoy Domagala, Edgerton Public School, to Federal
    Communications Commission, filed August 15, 2000 (Waiver Request).

[^2]: *Id.*

[^3]: 47 C.F.R. §§ 54.502, 54.503.

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

[^5]: 47 C.F.R. §§ 54.504(b)(3), (4); § 54.511.

[^6]: 47 C.F.R. § 54.504(c).

[^7]: Schools and Libraries Universal Service, Services Ordered and
    Certification Form, OMB 3060-0806 (September 1999) (FCC Form 471).

[^8]: Instructions for Completing the Schools and Libraries Universal
    Service, Services Ordered and Certification Form (FCC Form 471), OMB
    3060-0806 (September 1999) (FCC Form 471 Instructions), at 24.

[^9]: 47 C.F.R. § 54.507(c).

[^10]: 47 C.F.R. § 54.507(g).

[^11]: The funding window for Funding Year 2 initially closed on April
    6, 1999. When it was determined that funds were available in excess
    of what had been requested by applicants who filed within the
    original window, the Commission directed SLD to re-open the filing
    window to permit additional applications. The re-opened window
    closed on March 31, 2000. *See* SLD web site, What's New (March
    2000)
    \<[http://www.sl.universalservice.org/whatsnew/032000.asp#consideryr2]{.underline}\>;
    *see* Waiver Request, at 1.

[^12]: Letter from Schools and Libraries Division, Universal Service
    Administrative Company, to LeRoy Domagala, Edgerton Public School,
    dated June 30, 2000 (Funding Year 2 Form 471 Certification Letter).

[^13]: Funding Year 2 Form 471 Certification Letter.

[^14]: Funding Year 2 Form 471 Certification Letter.

[^15]: *Id.*

[^16]: Waiver Request. Assuming that the letter was not both mailed and
    received on June 30, 2000, it is unclear whether SLD mailed the
    letter prior to June 30, 2000, and Edgerton received it on that day,
    or whether Edgerton is mistaken in its assertion that it received
    the letter on that day.

[^17]: FCC Form 471, Edgerton Public School, filed July 17, 2000
    (Edgerton FCC Form 471).

[^18]: *Id.*

[^19]: Letter from Schools and Libraries Division, Universal Service
    Administrative Company, to LeRoy Domagala, dated July 21, 2000.
    SLD's July 21 notice indicated somewhat confusingly that Edgerton
    had missed the March 31, 2000 filing window for its FCC Form 471.
    *Id.* It was the late filing of the Block 6 certification, past the
    July 15, 2000 deadline, that rendered the entire FCC Form 471
    outside the filing window for Funding Year 2.

[^20]: *Northeast Cellular Telephone Co. v. FCC*, 897 F.2d 1164, 1166
    (D.C. Cir. 1990).

[^21]: Edgerton FCC Form 471.

[^22]: *See FCC Overrules Caldwell Television,* 58 RR 2d 1706, 1707
    (1985) (emphasizing the importance of anticipating delays).

[^23]: *Request for Review by Anderson School Staatsburg, Federal-State
    Joint Board on Universal Service, Changes to the Board of Directors
    of the National Exchange Carrier Association*, File No. SLD-13364,
    CC Docket Nos. 96-45 and 97-21, Order, 15 FCC Rcd 25610 (Com. Car.
    Bur. 2000), at para. 8 ("In light of the thousands of applications
    that SLD reviews and processes each funding year, it is
    administratively necessary to place on the applicant the
    responsibility of understanding all relevant program rules and
    procedures.").