Latest News: E-Rate

Applies to: E-Rate applicants who invoice using the BEAR method What’s happening Beginning September 8, 2026, USAC will use SAM.gov banking information to pay all Universal Service Fund (USF) invoices. Every invoice paid on or after that date will be disbursed to the bank account tied to your entity’s SAM.gov registration — not to any account previously on file with USAC. Who needs to

Category Two equipment and other one-time services must be delivered and installed by month’s end. Two new checklists walk applicants and service providers through it. Funding Year 2025 recurring services wrapped up on June 30, 2026, but the year is not closed. Non-recurring services — Category Two equipment, internal connections, installation labor, basic maintenance — carry a separate deadline of September 30, 2026. The

The FCC’s review of the E-Rate program has moved from “something we heard about” to “something with deadlines.” We’ve put together a single timeline covering how the program got here, exactly where we are right now, and what comes next — so schools, districts, libraries, consortia, and service providers can all work from the same calendar. The two dates that matter most: comments are

The Big News On June 25, 2026, the FCC voted to open a formal comment period on the future of the E-Rate program — the federal fund that helps schools and libraries pay for internet and telecom services. The agency issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM), kicking off a public conversation about how the 30-year-old

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has released the Draft Funding Year (FY) 2027 Eligible Services List (ESL) for the E-Rate program. At this stage, no changes have been adopted. Instead, the FCC is seeking public input on several policy questions that could shape future E-Rate eligibility and procurement requirements. What Applicants Should Know For Funding Year 2027, the draft ESL does not propose changes

For nearly three decades, the E-Rate program has delivered on the universal service goals Congress set out, giving schools and libraries access to affordable, high-speed broadband. Across that span, the program has kept pace with evolving technology while holding firm on fiscal discipline and accountability. The real question facing the Commission isn’t whether E-Rate works—that much is settled. The program’s track record speaks for