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 aggregated 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 primary E-Rate datasets:

  • 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

Coverage spans funding years FY2016 through FY2026. We add no private, purchased, or estimated data — if a figure is on FRNHQ, it traces back to one of these public filings.

How often it updates

The core E-Rate and RHC datasets sync daily; the EPC entity master syncs 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.