Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.*

At last, the filing window has been announced!  Opening February 27, closing May 11.

Buried in the middle of that announcement is a new procedure you need to pay attention to: this year we have a sort of storm window.  This year, all entity information, including enrollments and NSLP, will be locked when the window opens.  So you've got 3 weeks to make sure that you have all the correct entities in EPC, and that the entities have the correct info.  How many RALs is that going to create?

Here's a little historical context:

Fund Year	FCC releases ESL	Window announced	Days passed	Window open	60 days?	Window close	Window days
2005	10/14/2004	11/5/2004	22	12/14/2004	61	2/17/2005	65
2006	11/22/2005	11/23/2005	1	12/6/2005	14	2/16/2006	72
2007	10/19/2006	10/20/2006	1	11/14/2006	26	2/7/2007	85
2008	10/19/2007	10/28/2007	9	11/7/2007	19	2/7/2008	92
2009	11/21/2008	11/24/2008	3	12/2/2008	11	2/12/2009	72
2010	12/2/2009	12/3/2009	1	12/3/2009	1	2/11/2010	70
2011	12/6/2010	12/10/2010	4	1/11/2011	36	3/24/2011	72
2012	9/28/2011	11/22/2011	55	1/9/2012	103	3/20/2012	71
2013	9/27/2012	11/13/2012	47	12/12/2012	76	3/14/2013	92
2014	10/22/2013	11/20/2013	29	1/9/2014	79	3/26/2014	76
2015	10/28/2014	12/19/2014	52	1/14/2015	78	3/26/2015 (ext. to 4/16/2015)	81 (102)
2016	9/11/2015	1/25/2016	136	2/3/2016	145	4/29/2016 (ext. to 5/26/2016)**	86 (113)
2017	9/12/2016	2/3/2017	144	2/27/2017	168	5/11/2017	73

** Extended to 7/21/16 for consortia and libraries
Some explanations:
"Days passed" is the number of days that passed between the release of the ESL and the announcement of the window dates.
"60 days" is the number of days between the release of the ESL and the opening of the window, which should be at least 60 days per the Third Report and Order.
"Window days" is the number of days that the window is open.

This year's timing is similar to last year's unprecedented timing, just pushed back a couple of weeks to fit in the "pre-window" entity correction window.  (And last year's got pushed back further during the window.)

*Edith Wharton