All E-Rate purchased equipment must stay at the entity indicated on the 471 application for at least 3 years. If the entity moves, the equipment must go with them. Starting with the 2021/2022 E-Rate funding year, equipment no longer needs to stay at a specific school within a district or library branch within a library system. Districts and Library systems will now have the flexibility to move that equipment from location to location within their district or library system. After the 3 years, it can be transferred to another eligible entity. If an entity/location that houses the equipment closes within 3 years of the purchase, the equipment can be transferred to another eligible entity, however, USAC must be notified of the transfer. After 5 years from the date of installation, the equipment can be disposed of, transferred, traded or sold.
**If any E-Rate funded Category 2 equipment breaks within 5 years of installation, applicants should store the equipment at their school or library and update the asset register accordingly.
Equipment Verification
Best Practice – Verify that the equipment delivered to your school or library is the equipment that was on your original contract/471 application. If the equipment doesn’t match exactly, and the equipment has the same functionality, we may need to file a service substitution.
Asset Management
Best Practice – Upon arrival at your facility, label each piece of equipment with the Funding Year, FRN (Funding Request Number), and date installed. This way, if you ever get an onsite audit, the auditors will be able to associate the hardware with the funding request and it helps satisfy USAC’s asset tracking requirement.
Asset Management – Inventory
- Best Practice – Record each piece of equipment in your school’s or library’s asset inventory registry. If you do not have an asset registry, we recommend creating one that includes, at least, the following:
- Make and Model
- Serial Number
- Physical Location of equipment
- Date installed
- Funding Year
- Funding Request Number
- Purchase Order, if used
If you have any questions regarding asset management for E-Rate compliance, please feel free to contact us or email us at info@erateadvantage.com.
