§  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]