8. Invoicing USAC and Reimbursement

Transcription

1 8. Invoicing USAC and Reimbursement What has taken place so far. Service Provider registered with USAC by filing FCC Form 498. Service Provider filed Form 473 (Service Provider Annual Certification) Service Provider received Funding Commitment Decision Letter Service Provider received Form 486 Notification Letter Services provided and billed at a discount Service Provider Invoice Form (SPIF) Form 474 Purpose of Form This form is used by the Service Provider to seek reimbursement, by Funding Request Number (FRN) of the eligible discounts the Service Provider has already provided to the applicant(s). The applicant pays the Service Provider directly for the undiscounted portion of the bill. Summary of instructions This form must be submitted through the mail. It is to be sent to the address on the form, in Lawrence, Kansas. The form includes pertinent information about the Service Provider, as well as the individual FRNs listed. Each line item represents one FRN. The billing date (column 11) is to be used for recurring services. The shipping date (column 12) is to be used for non-recurring (one-time) charges. It is very important that the Service Provider track the invoice numbers and the FRNs on that invoice. This means the number you assign to the invoice and all the FRNs contained on that invoice. Invoice Hotline If you have questions about an invoice that has been submitted, you can call the USAC Invoice Hotline at (973) Tips and Tricks: Create a database to track your invoices and FRNs; it makes it easier to find all of the information in one place should questions arise at a later point. Year 3 Invoicing Mode Please note that SLD encourages Service Providers to work with their customers to establish whether discounts will appear on bills or whether customers prefer the BEAR reimbursement process. For Year 3, SLD will process either reimbursements based on Form 472 (BEAR) or discounts USAC/SLD 1 August 2000

2 based on Form 474 (SPIF) for a given FRN. Once established, however, the selected process SPIFs or BEARs must be consistently used for the entire Funding Year. NOTE: SLD will base the invoicing mode (reimbursement or discounting) on the first invoice type that it receives. It is therefore imperative for the Service Provider and the customer to establish together the preferred invoicing mode. Manual Filing Procedures Minimum Processing Standards All of the required information on the Form 474 must be properly filled out. It will fail Minimum Processing Standards (MPS) if any of the required information is omitted. If the form fails MPS it will be returned to you for correction and then the invoice must be resubmitted. Be sure that you enter the billing information in the proper column on the Form. Column 11 is used for monthly billing periods. Put in the last date of service or the bill date. Use Column 12 for non-recurring costs. Use only ONE of these columns for each FRN. Tips and tricks Remember that you cannot invoice until you have provided discounts to the applicant(s)! Remember that your Form 473 (Service Provider Annual Certification) must be received by SLD prior to you submitting invoices. (This form must be filed EVERY funding year to cover the invoices for that funding year.) Don t use a discount percentage higher than what is shown on the Funding Commitment Decision Letter (FCDL) for that FRN. Wait for a Form 486 Notification Letter prior to submitting your invoice(s). Double check your Form before mailing. Keep track of the invoice number and FRN(s) on that invoice. Be sure that the applicant has received discounted bills prior to submitting your invoice. Electronic Filing Procedures SLD strongly encourages electronic invoicing for providers who will repeatedly bill the SLD. The big difference in processing time is the savings that comes from USAC not having to re-key all the data. There won t be a big time savings for Service Providers who only submit a few invoices or who submit only a couple of line items for each invoice. USAC/SLD 2 August 2000

3 Below is a brief description of the process for electronic submissions. 1. Service providers interested in electronic invoicing should send a message to serviceprovider@sl.universalservice.org indicating the address where they wish to receive electronic notification of funding commitments, receipt of Forms 471 filed, and future electronic versions of this Form 486 Notification Letter. The SLD will accept electronic invoices from multiple employees within a company. The electronic notification of receipt of the invoice file, and other electronic transmissions regarding each specific invoice file will be sent to the address contained within the filename of each specific electronic invoice file received. 2. Upon receipt of your indicating a desire to invoice the SLD electronically, SLD s invoice manager will electronically send to you information to establish an electronic invoicing relationship. 3. You will be required to obtain Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) Software in order to encrypt electronic invoice submissions prior to submission. Once installed, the Service Provider may use PGP to send and/or receive encrypted files. 4. You must create your Invoice Form in a comma delimited format, encrypt it using PGP, and send it as an attachment to an address which will be specified in the instruction materials. 5. The attachment will be received by the SLD, automatically decrypted via PGP, and saved into a specific directory. 6. The file will then be processed by an in-house application that will check for errors. 7. Files successfully transmitted will be promptly validated and a message will be sent back to the originator stating that the invoice has been received. In the event of transmission or technical errors, an error report will be sent back to the originator with a list of all errors associated with the invoice. Once the errors have been corrected, the invoice should be resubmitted. Invoice Review Process Invoices are processed by line item (which is the same as an FRN); from this point onward all communications regarding items included on your invoice will be at a line item level; you are responsible for tracking which FRNs were included on which invoice. USAC/SLD 3 August 2000

4 Batch Validation All invoice line items go through a batch validation process, which determines whether the line item has a structural flaw and must be passed $0, whether the line item has information validation issues and must go through review or whether the line item can immediately pass through to payment. SLD executes the Batch Validation program daily Sunday through Thursday. Invoice Status Report Every day, SLD produces an Invoice Status Report that shows which invoice line items passed through the system the prior day. The Invoice Status Report shows each line item that has processed through the Batch Validation Program. This will provide you a snap shot that will help you determine timing of your payment. Line items marked "Passed Validation - Approved For Payment" or "Passed $0" will be sent the following Thursday to USAC for final distribution to you. Lines marked "Held for Form 486" will be held and revalidated daily for ten days. If the SLD does not receive a form 486 in those ten days, the line will become "Passed $0", sent to USAC and you will receive it in the next USAC remittance statement. If a line is marked "Requires Review", you will need to await PIA contact to finalize the review on the line item. Once the review is completed, you will receive final determination in the next remittance statement you receive. This report is only run once per invoice. After receipt of the ISR, your next notification about payment or non-payment will be sent to you via the USAC remittance statement process. Passed $0 definition Line items that contain a structural fault, such as a mismatch between the 471 application number and the FRN, will show as Passed $0. This means that no money can be paid on the line item until it is corrected. Error codes are provided on the USAC remittance statement, with more detail available on the SLD web site at The Service Provider must fix what is wrong with the line item(s) and resubmit an invoice for payment. Requires Review definition The Invoice Status Report will indicate which line items require review. This means that there is a substantive flaw in the information itself (as opposed to the structure of the invoice). For example, there may be issues with dates, such as a bill date or shipping date that is outside the funding year or before a Form 486 service start date. There are other USAC/SLD 4 August 2000

5 types of reviews as well, including reviews done for program integrity assurance (policy) reasons. In most cases of Requires Review, USAC will contact the Service Provider for more information. The types of information required may be copies of bills, confirmation of shipping dates, etc. Every effort will be made to resolve Requires Review issues in a timely fashion. Inquiries may be made to the Invoice Hotline ( ) to check on progress. It is important to respond promptly to any requests for information that you receive from the USAC Invoice Team. After Submission of Service Provider Invoice Form USAC Remittance Statement USAC remittance statements are issued, in either electronic or paper format, 2 to 4 days after receipt of the SLD payment file. Paper remittance statements for both SPIFs and BEARs are issued within 2 to 4 days. Electronic remittance statements are distributed 2 days after receipt of the SLD payment file. Purpose of statement The statement provides detailed information by line item (FRN) in terms of the processing outcome. Payment on the FRN will either be the invoiced amount, a partial payment or a zero payment. Detailed description The statement provides detailed information to help you identify the FRN and applicant and includes explanations and error codes from the SLD when less than the full invoiced amount is being disbursed by USAC. The remittance statement will include information on only those FRNs that have been processed by the SLD. It is important to remember that these can be from separate invoices submitted by the Service Provider. Resolving Problems with Remittance Statements If there are any problems with receipt of your remittance statement, you can call the USAC Customer Helpline at ( ). If there are problems with the amount you have received or the processing of the FRNs noted on the remittance statement, you must call the Invoice Hotline at ( ). Options for Payment: Check vs. Electronic Funds Transfer Every Service Provider has the choice of receiving their distributions electronically (ACH) or by check. USAC strongly recommends that the electronic method be selected. USAC/SLD 5 August 2000

6 Reimbursement vs. Offset to Contribution Those Service Providers who are providing interstate telecommunications services are required to contribute to the Universal Service Fund. Contributors to the Fund may elect to have their discount reimbursements used to offset their contribution obligation. Such an election is made on the FCC Form 498 and can be made only once per year during January. Tips and Tricks: Make sure you keep accurate, complete records that tie the FRNs to the invoices you submit (to make it easier to communicate with USAC/SLD if there should be a problem]. Develop a tracking system to monitor whether invoices are returned on a Passed $0 basis will help prevent repeated problems. USAC/SLD 6 August 2000