Sec. 54.623  Cap.

    (a) Amount of the annual Cap. The annual cap on federal universal 
service support for health care providers shall be $400 million per 
funding year.
    (b) Funding year. The funding year for purposes of the health care 
providers cap shall be the calendar year.
    (c) Requests. Funds shall be available to eligible health care 
providers on a first-come-first-served basis, with requests accepted 
beginning on the first of July prior to each funding year.
    (d) Annual filing requirement. Health care providers shall file new 
funding requests for each funding year.
    (e) Long term contracts. If health care providers enter into long 
term contracts for eligible services, the Administrator shall only 
commit funds to cover the portion of such a long term contract scheduled 
to be delivered during the funding year for which universal service 
support is sought.

                        Subpart H--Administration