§ 54.1710 Emergency Connectivity Fund requests for funding. ( a ) *Filing of the FCC Form 471.* An eligible school, library, or consortium that includes an eligible school or library seeking to receive Emergency Connectivity Fund support for eligible equipment and services under this subpart shall submit a completed FCC Form 471 to the Administrator. ( 1 ) The FCC Form 471 shall be signed by the person authorized to order eligible services for the eligible school, library, or consortium and shall include that person's certification under penalty of perjury that: ( i ) “I am authorized to submit this application on behalf of the above-named applicant and that based on information known to me or provided to me by employees responsible for the data being submitted, I hereby certify that the data set forth in this application has been examined and is true, accurate and complete. I acknowledge that any false statement on this application or on other documents submitted by this applicant can be punished by fine or forfeiture under the Communications Act (47 U.S.C. 502, 503(b)), or fine or imprisonment under Title 18 of the United States Code (18 U.S.C. 1001), or can lead to liability under the False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. 3729-3733).”
( ii ) “In addition to the foregoing, this applicant is in compliance with the rules and orders governing the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, and I acknowledge that failure to be in compliance and remain in compliance with those rules and orders may result in the denial of funding, cancellation of funding commitments, and/or recoupment of past disbursements. I acknowledge that failure to comply with the rules and orders governing the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program could result in civil or criminal prosecution by law enforcement authorities.”
( iii ) “By signing this application, I certify that the information contained in this application is true, complete, and accurate, and the projected expenditures, disbursements and cash receipts are for the purposes and objectives set forth in the terms and conditions of the Federal award. I am aware that any false, fictitious, or fraudulent information, or the omission of any material fact, may subject me to criminal, civil or administrative penalties for fraud, false statements, false claims or otherwise. (U.S. Code Title 18, sections 1001, 286-287 and 1341 and Title 31, sections 3729-3730 and 3801-3812).”
( iv ) The school meets the statutory definition of “elementary school” or “secondary school” as defined in § 54.1700, does not operate as for-profit businesses, and does not have endowments exceeding $50 million.
( v ) The library or library consortia eligible is for assistance from a State library administrative agency under the Library Services and Technology Act, does not operate as for-profit businesses, and their budgets are completely separate from any school (including, but not limited to, elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities).
( vi ) The school, library, or consortia listed on the FCC Form 471 application has complied with all applicable state, local, or Tribal local laws regarding procurement of services for which support is being sought.
( vii ) The school or school consortium listed on the FCC Form 471 application is only seeking support for eligible equipment and/or services provided to students and school staff who would otherwise lack connected devices and/or broadband services sufficient to engage in remote learning.
( viii ) The library or library consortium listed on the FCC Form 471 application is only seeking support for eligible equipment and/or services provided to library patrons who have signed and returned a statement that the library patron would otherwise lack access to equipment or services sufficient to meet the patron's educational needs if not for the use of the equipment or service being provided by the library.
( ix ) The school, library, or consortia is not seeking Emergency Connectivity Fund support or reimbursement for eligible equipment or services that have been purchased and reimbursed in full with other Federal pandemic-relief funding, targeted state funding, other external sources of targeted funding or targeted gifts, or eligible for discounts from the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism or other universal service support mechanism.
( x ) The applicant or the relevant student, school staff member, or library patron has received, or the applicant has ordered or will order, the equipment and services for which funding is sought.
( xi ) The equipment and services the school, library, or consortium purchases or will purchase using Emergency Connectivity Fund support will be used primarily for educational purposes and will not be sold, resold, or transferred in consideration for money or any other thing of value, except as allowed by § 54.1713.
( xii ) The school, library, or consortium will create and maintain an equipment and service inventory as required by § 54.1715.
( xiii ) The school, library, or consortium has complied with all program rules and acknowledge that failure to do so may result in denial of discount funding and/or recovery of funding.
( xiv ) The applicant recognizes that it may be audited pursuant to its application, that it will retain for ten years any and all records related to its application, and that, if audited, it shall produce shall records at the request of any representative (including any auditor) appointed by a state education department, the Administrator, the Commission and its Office of Inspector General, or any local, state, or Federal agency with jurisdiction over the entity.
( xv ) No kickbacks, as defined in 41 U.S.C. 8701 and/or 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7b, were paid or received by the applicant to anyone in connection with the Emergency Connectivity Fund.
( 2 ) Applicants seeking support for new network construction or end-user equipment for datacasting services through the Emergency Connectivity Fund must also certify under penalty of perjury that they sought service from existing service providers in the relevant area and that such service providers were unable or unwilling to provide broadband internet access services sufficient to meet the remote learning needs of their students, school staff, or library patrons.
( 3 ) All information submitted as part of an FCC Form 471 application shall be treated as public and non-confidential by the Administrator.
( b ) *Service substitution.* ( 1 ) A request by an applicant to substitute equipment or service for one identified on its FCC Form 471 must be in writing.
( 2 ) The Administrator shall approve such written request where: ( i ) The equipment or service has the same functionality; and
( ii ) This substitution does not violate any contract provisions or state, local, or Tribal procurement law.
( 3 ) In the event that an equipment or service substitution results in a change in the amount of support, support shall be based on the lower of either the price for the equipment or service for which support was originally requested or the price of the new, substituted equipment or service. Reimbursement for substitutions shall only be provided after the Administrator has approved a written request for substitution.
( c ) *Mixed eligibility equipment and services.* If equipment or service includes both ineligible and eligible components, the applicant must remove the cost of the ineligible components of the equipment or service from the request for funding submitted to the Administrator.
[86 FR 29158, May 28, 2021, as amended at 86 FR 38570, July 22, 2021; 86 FR 41409, Aug. 2, 2021]