Federal Communications Commission FCC 21-58 Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Establishing Emergency Connectivity Fund to ) WC Docket No. 21-93 Close the Homework Gap ) REPORT AND ORDER Adopted: May 10, 2021 Released: May 11, 2021 By the Commission: Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel and Commissioners Carr, Starks, and Simington issuing separate statements. TABLE OF CONTENTS Heading Paragraph # I. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................1 II. BACKGROUND.....................................................................................................................................6 A. Emergency Connectivity Fund Program...........................................................................................6 B. E-Rate Program.................................................................................................................................9 III. DISCUSSION........................................................................................................................................13 A. Performance Goals and Measures...................................................................................................15 1. Connecting Students, School Staff, and Library Patrons During the Pandemic ......................16 2. Efficiently and Effectively Administer Funding ......................................................................19 3. Inform Future Purchasing and Policy Decisions Through Pricing Transparency for Eligible Equipment and Services..............................................................................................22 B. Eligible Schools and Libraries ........................................................................................................24 C. Eligible Equipment and Services ....................................................................................................28 D. Service Locations and Per-Location/Per-User Limitations ............................................................48 E. Eligible Uses ...................................................................................................................................62 F. Reasonable Support Amount ..........................................................................................................68 G. Application Process ........................................................................................................................78 H. Invoicing and Reimbursement Process...........................................................................................92 I. Payment Administration .................................................................................................................99 J. Designating USAC as the Administrator of the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program...........103 K. Children’s Internet Protection Act ................................................................................................108 L. Protections Against Waste, Fraud, and Abuse..............................................................................115 1. Device and Service Inventory Requirements .........................................................................116 2. Document Retention Requirements........................................................................................119 3. Gift Rule .................................................................................................................................120 4. Certifications ..........................................................................................................................123 5. Audits .....................................................................................................................................132 6. Treatment of Eligible Equipment during and after the COVID-19 Emergency Period.........135 M. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis .........................................................................................................138 N. Enforcement..................................................................................................................................140 O. Delegations to the Bureau and the Office of Managing Director .................................................141 IV. PROCEDURAL MATTERS...............................................................................................................145 V. ORDERING CLAUSES......................................................................................................................150 Federal Communications Commission FCC 21-58 APPENDIX A – FINAL RULES APPENDIX B – ELIGIBLE SERVICES LIST FOR EMERGENCY CONNECTIVITY FUND PROGRAM I. INTRODUCTION 1. In this Report and Order, we establish the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program (Program) to provide funding for schools and libraries for the purchase, during the coronavirus (COVID- 19) pandemic, of connected devices and broadband connections for use by students, school staff, and library patrons. Before the pandemic, millions of students who lacked home broadband connections and access to computers were caught in the “Homework Gap.” One study estimates that last spring, more than 15 million public school students did not have home access to either an Internet connection or a device adequate for distance learning, and approximately nine million of those students lived in households with neither an adequate connection nor an adequate device for distance learning.1 The pandemic has only exacerbated the inequities between students who have a broadband connection and those who do not.2 Today’s action addresses those inequities, helping to provide all students, school staff, and library patrons with the basic tools they need to engage in online learning and in so many other vital aspects of our increasingly digital lives. 2. Today, even as there are hopeful signs that the pandemic is receding in this country, many schools and libraries continue to rely on remote learning and virtual library services as they adapt to changing circumstances. Schools, with assistance from a wide array of federal, state, and local government resources, public interest groups, and Internet service providers, have worked to equip millions of students with tablet and laptop computers, Wi-Fi hotspots, and other forms of broadband connections. Yet millions of students have remained unconnected to the Internet.3 At the same time, the closure of many libraries means that library patrons who were previously dependent on computer and Internet access at their local libraries lost their primary source of broadband access. Just as schools have attempted to help meet their students’ and staffs’ connectivity needs, libraries across the country also have attempted to assist patrons in meeting their connectivity needs during the pandemic. 3. To provide relief from the pandemic, on March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the American Rescue Plan or Act) was signed into law.4 This Report and Order implements 1 Common Sense Media et al., Closing the K–12 Digital Divide in the Age of Distance Learning, (2020), (Common Sense Media 2020 Report) https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/pdfs/common_sense_media_report_final_6_26_7.38 am_web_updated.pdf. 2 See, e.g., Moriah Balingit, ‘A National Crisis’: As coronavirus forces many schools online this fall, millions of disconnected students are being left behind, Washington Post (Aug. 15, 2020), https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/a-national-crisis-as-coronavirus-forces-many-schools-online-this-fall- millions-of-disconnected-students-are-being-left-behind/2020/08/16/458b04e6-d7f8-11ea-9c3b- dfc394c03988_story.html (explaining that disconnected students caught in the “homework gap” are now missing more than just homework, and are missing all of school). 3 Common Sense Media et al., Looking Back Looking Forward: What it will take to Permanently Close the Digital Divide, (2021), (Common Sense Media 2021 Report) https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/pdfs/final_- _what_it_will_take_to_permanently_close_the_k-12_digital_divide_vfeb3.pdf (estimating that as of December 2020, between 9 and 12 million K-12 students still lack an adequate Internet connection in their homes and between 4 and 6 million K-12 students lack access to an adequate device for distance learning). 4 American Rescue Plan Act, 2021, H.R. 1319, Pub. L. No. 117-2, 117th Cong., tit. VII, § 7402 (2021) (enacted), available at https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1319/text (American Rescue Plan Act) (enrolled bill). The Act also designates that $1 million from the Emergency Connectivity Fund be available for use by the Inspector General of the Commission to conduct oversight of support provided through the Emergency Connectivity Fund. Id. § 7402(c)(2)(B). Support provided under the regulations adopted today is provided through (continued….) 2 Federal Communications Commission FCC 21-58 section 7402 of the Act, which established a $7.171 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund in the Treasury of the United States.5 Section 7402 directed the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) to promulgate rules providing for the distribution of funding from the Emergency Connectivity Fund to eligible schools and libraries for the purchase of eligible equipment and/or advanced telecommunications and information services for use by students,