To process a refund for the E-Rate commitments made in a funding decision, USAC will need to receive an invoice for reimbursement on either an FCC Form 472 (BEAR) or FCC Form 474 (SPI).

• Applicants submit the FCC Form 472 (BEAR) to receive reimbursement for the E-Rate portion of bills they have paid in full.
• Service providers submit the FCC Form 474 (SPI) to receive reimbursement for the E-Rate portion of bills when they elect to only bill the applicant the non-discount portion for services instead of the entire cost.

Only one method can be used for a single FRN in any given funding year. However, you could use the SPI method for some FRNs and the BEAR method for other FRNs.

If using the BEAR method, you also need to file an FCC Form 498 to indicate banking information for direct deposit of reimbursements.

How frequently you invoice USAC is up to you ... you can file monthly, quarterly, or once at the end of the year.

After the end of each calendar quarter, USAC issues a Quarterly Disbursement Report that details all invoicing activity (BEAR Forms and SPI Forms) processed during that quarter for all funding years.