Georgia has begun accepting applications in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband funding program, and Missouri plans to do so beginning on Thursday. Both states were allotted relatively large amounts of funding in the program. Missouri has $1.7 billion to award and Georgia has $1.3 billion.
Georgia’s applications are due by January 15. Missouri’s applications are due February 20. Applicants for both states must qualify to receive funding. In Missouri, the deadline to apply to prequalify is February 5. Georgia has encompassed the qualification process as part of the funding application process.
Both states will evaluate projects based on primary and secondary criteria. The criteria will be different for fiber broadband projects (known as priority broadband projects) than for projects using alternative technologies such as fixed wireless or satellite broadband. The latter are known as non-priority broadband projects.
Missouri BEAD Applications
The state of Missouri plans to do two rounds of BEAD funding.
According to a summary from the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), applicants for Missouri BEAD funding can earn up to 320 points. (NRTC owns Pivot Group, which publishes Telecompetitor.)
Primary criteria for fiber broadband projects, NRTC notes, include:
- Minimal BEAD outlay (up to 100 points)
- Affordability (up to 100 points) based on a comparison of service price with the Urban Rate Survey 2023 benchmark
- Fair labor practices (up to 40 points)
Secondary criteria for fiber broadband projects include:
- Speed to deployment (up to 18 points for projects to be completed within 18 months)
- Local coordination (up to 20 points)
- Training commitments (up to 10 points)
- Hiring commitments (up to 10 points)
- Employment commitments (up to 10 points)
- Missouri economic development (up to 12 points)
The primary criteria for non-fiber projects are the same and weighted the same as for fiber projects, but secondary criteria are different and are as follows:
- Speed to deployment (up to 13.5 points for projects to be completed within 18 months)
- Speed of network and other technical capabilities (up to 20 points, including up to 8 points for speed, and up to 4 points each for latency, useful life, and scalability)
- Local coordination (up to 15 points)
- Training commitments (up to 7.5 points)
- Hiring commitments (up to 7.5 points)
- Employment commitments (up to 7.5 points)
- Missouri economic development (up to 9 points)
Georgia BEAD Applications
Georgia BEAD awards will be made on a county-by-county basis. The state’s scoring system enables applicants to earn up to 100 points for a project, according to Volume 2 of Georgia’s initial BEAD proposal.
The primary criteria for fiber and non-fiber projects, according to that proposal, include:
- Minimal BEAD outlay (up to 50 points based on cost per location)
- Affordability (up to 15 points)
- Compliance with federal fair labor laws (up to 10 points)
Secondary criteria for all projects include:
- Speed to deployment (up to 5 points for projects to be completed in three years)
- Community/local government support (up to 9 points)
- Community anchor institutions (CAIs). Up to 3 points based on the percentage of CAIs to be reached at no extra deployment cost. (The minimum speeds that the applicant must deploy are lower for non-fiber projects than for fiber projects)
Up to eight remaining points will be awarded based on different criteria for fiber and non-fiber projects. For fiber projects, up to 8 points will be awarded based on the percentage of eligible unserved and underserved locations within a project area that the applicant commits to serving.
For non-fiber projects, up to 8 points will be awarded based on speed of network (up to 3 points), scalability (up to 3 points) and a cost-effective future upgrade and capital investment path (up to 2 points).
Additional information about Missouri broadband, including links to state funding resources, previous awards made, state specific Telecompetitor coverage and more, can be found on the Telecompetitor Broadband Nation webpage for the state. Additional information about Georgia broadband can be found on that state’s Broadband Nation webpage.
Updated to clarify that Georgia is doing the qualification process for network operators as part of the funding application process and to confirm the BEAD funding allotted to each of the states.
