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FCC Accused of Doing Poor Job on E-Rate(AP) FCC Accused of Doing Poor Job on E-Rate By JENNIFER C. KERR Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON Lax oversight by federal regulators has helped waste millions of dollars in a government program that helps connect schools and libraries to the Internet, according to a congressional investigation. The E-Rate program, which is overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, provides discounted Internet access and connection equipment to help expand Internet availability, especially in rural and low-income areas. But the $2.25 billion program "is extremely vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse, is poorly managed by the FCC, and completely lacks tangible measures of either effectiveness or impact," said a report by the oversight subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The agency crafted an ambitious and well-intentioned program, but it failed to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the E-Rate program, the report said. It also faulted the FCC for having no performance goals and measures to gauge the impact and management of the funds. An FCC spokesman declined to comment. The commission began the process of developing performance standards in June, three months after it promised Congress it would do so. The subcommittee's two-year investigation cited problems with the E-Rate program in Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta. For example, the report said more than $100 million was provided to Puerto Rico for an E-Rate funded network that was implemented only in a few schools, and almost no students had access to it. In Chicago, more than $8 million in unused connection equipment sat in a warehouse. Other audits and investigations have uncovered abuses nationwide, including wasted equipment, improper purchases and insufficient payments. The E-Rate program is financed by charges paid by telephone companies and typically passed along to consumers in the form of a universal service charge on consumers' phone bills. The FCC plans to use about $132 million from the E-Rate program to fund a relief plan for Hurricane Katrina-devastated schools and libraries on the Gulf Coast to reconnect to the Internet. Some lawmakers have expressed concern the plan could siphon E-Rate money from other states. ____ On the Net: House Energy and Commerce Committee: http://energycommerce.house.gov E-rate: http://www.fcc.gov/learnnet |