Pai Committed to Fixing Troubled E-rate Program Process, Aide Tells SHLB
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai remains committed to doing “everything we can to fix” the E-rate program process, amid concerns about Universal Service Administrative Co. oversight of the USF school and library discount program, said senior Pai adviser Nick Degani during a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition event Thursday. Pai criticized USAC in April for E-rate oversight and said the program has “serious flaws” despite previous remedy efforts (see 1704190026). USAC CEO Chris Henderson resigned in early May (see 1705040055) and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., expressed renewed oversight interest in E-rate (see 1705040064 and 1705230042).
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“From the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry” that the E-rate process, and particularly USAC's troubled online E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) portal, has become so onerous, Degani said. He noted many applicants have reported the process, particularly for filing forms 470 and 471, has been a “huge and terrible experience.” It's particularly “disheartening” that applicants appear to be declining amid those issues, Degani said. The overall number of E-rate applicants decreased to just under 23,000 in FY 2017, down 16 percent from the FY 2014 high of more than 27,400 applicants, said Funds for Learning CEO John Harrington. The drop appeared to come among applicants who didn't use a consultant during the process, as the number of applicants who used consultants has slightly increased since FY 2014, he said.
The E-rate application figures are dropping because of EPC IT issues and because potential participants view the process as becoming “increasingly complicated,” Degani said. EPC “has been pretty terrible” and Pai has been clear that USAC needs to fix the portal's issues, Degani said. The FCC is “continuing to push them to make sure” the EPC application process “is something that actually serves all of the applicants.” Degani cautioned SHLB members that the FCC will need to “get our ducks in a row” before it seriously can consider policy changes involving E-rate. USAC didn't comment.
The overall drop in E-rate applicants and the relatively level number of applicants who use consultants point to a perception that the application process has become “onerous,” though there are questions about the extent to which those issues are the driving factor behind the trend, Harrington said. Funds for Learning is doing a SurveyMonkey survey through Friday on the program. Data from previous surveys through FY 2016 have shown the “counterintuitive” EPC was an issue for applicants, but the complexity of the program's rules and a degree of “fear factor” about possible audits have also been a concern, Harrington said.