Cybersecurity Policy Report, Reimbursement Eligibility for ‘Rip-and-Replace’ Costs Clarified by FCC Bureau, (Sep 3, 2026)
Organizations Mentioned:Mediacom
By Jeff Williams
The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau issued a public notice today clarifying that participants in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, also known as the “rip-and-replace” program, were eligible for reimbursement for administrative costs they incurred to meet the program’s requirements between the deadline for removal, replacement, and disposal of equipment and services deemed to be security threats to the U.S. and the deadline to finish submitting all reimbursement claims.
“Consistent with all Program requirements, reimbursement claims must be for actual costs reasonably incurred and be fully supported by invoices and other cost documentation,” the bureau said in the notice in WC docket 18-89.
The bureau also said in the same notice that it had declined to approve proposals by Summit Ridge Group (SRG), one of the project management firms performing program-related work for rip-and-replace funding recipients, to “‘establish a process for further extensions [of the reimbursement claim deadline] where closeout remains incomplete through no fault of the recipient,’ (ii) ‘toll the [reimbursement] claim deadline while a timely filed modification or RFI [request for information] response is pending before the Fund Administrator,’ or (iii) ‘grant six-month RRD [removal, replacement, and disposal deadline] term extensions until a recipient completes all Program requirements that come after the RRD Deadline.’”
SRG had argued that periods for submitting all reimbursement claims would “be too short, given past experience and the scope of the complexity of the work involved,” the bureau noted.
The bureau also said it declined a request by Mediacom that program recipients that had already completed the closeout process should be allowed to re-enter the program to seek reimbursement for administrative costs incurred during the reimbursement claim period.
News: FederalLegislation DataSecurity