Data & Methodology

FRNHQ is built entirely on the public record. This page documents exactly where our numbers come from, how current they are, and where the data has limits, so you can trust, and verify, what you see.

Sources

All figures are built from the USAC Open Data Portal (Socrata) for the E-Rate (Schools & Libraries) program, plus USAC's Rural Health Care commitment and posted-service datasets for RHC. The datasets we sync:

  • FCC Form 470: competitive bidding postingsUSAC dataset jt8s-3q52
  • Form 471 FRN status: funding requests & commitmentsUSAC dataset qdmp-ygft
  • Item 21 FRN line items: equipment & servicesUSAC dataset hbj5-2bpj
  • Supplemental entity information: EPC entity masterUSAC dataset 7i5i-83qf
  • FRN invoice deadlinesUSAC dataset uzni-uwgr
  • Service provider information: EPC service-provider masterUSAC dataset xcy2-bdid
  • Invoices and authorized disbursements: FCC Forms 472/474USAC dataset jpiu-tj8h
  • Recipients of service: FCC Form 471USAC dataset tuem-agyq
  • Category Two budget tool data: USAC C2 budgets, funded, pending and availableUSAC dataset 6brt-5pbv
  • Rural Health Care posted servicesUSAC dataset 96rf-xd57
  • Rural Health Care commitmentsUSAC dataset 2kme-evqq

Coverage spans funding years FY2016 through FY2026. We add no private or purchased data: every figure starts from these public filings. Category 2 budgets are USAC's own published figures, not our estimates. Some figures are our own calculations on top of the filings (the Refresh Radar's equipment-age model, re-bid windows, and map locations).

How often it updates

The core E-Rate and RHC datasets sync daily; the EPC entity and service-provider masters sync weekly. Because USAC data changes as applications move through review, figures are a point-in-time snapshot of the most recent successful sync, not a live feed. Where a page shows a “data updated” date, that reflects the last successful sync.

How we compute the figures

  • Committed dollars. “Committed” is the funding USAC has committed on a request (FRN), not necessarily what has been disbursed; disbursement can lag or differ from the commitment.
  • Original vs. Current. Each FRN can appear as an Original (as-filed) and a Current (post-decision) record. We prefer the Current record so totals reflect the latest USAC decision.
  • Providers and manufacturers. Providers are keyed by their USAC SPIN; manufacturer names are normalized into canonical groups so market share isn't split across spelling variants.
  • Public page thresholds. To keep low-signal pages out of the index, we publish state, provider, and district pages only above a minimum committed-dollar threshold.

Known limitations

  • The data reflects public USAC filings only; it can lag USAC's own systems and does not include anything USAC has not published.
  • Source records occasionally carry data-entry errors (for example, implausible contract dates); we filter the most damaging outliers but cannot correct every one.
  • Forward-looking intelligence (open Form 470 leads and contract re-bid windows) is derived inside the FRNHQ app and is not part of the public export.

Independence & corrections

FRNHQ is an independent product and is not affiliated with USAC or the FCC. Read more about FRNHQ. Spot a figure that looks wrong? Email hello@frnhq.com and we'll trace it back to the source filing.