The next round of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program is upon us. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) says that the 56 states and territories have all been approved to move to the BEAD “Benefit of the Bargain” round of the subgrantee selection.
The NTIA issued new guidelines for the $42.5 billion BEAD program in June. Part of the process was for states and territories to correct their BEAD initial proposals to comply with the rules based on the new set of priorities. All of the revised initial proposals have been received and approved, according to the NTIA.
The new process aims to ensure the greatest possible impact from investments. It eliminates the preference for fiber included in the original BEAD guidelines and what the press release calls “extralegal, burdensome requirements.”
In the guidelines released early last month, the NTIA directed applicants to choose the lowest cost applicant in most cases.
The original three-tier system of priority, reliable, and extremely high-cost technologies was eliminated in favor of a landscape in which any technology is equally eligible if it meets the definition of a “priority broadband project.” It must be capable of lasting at least 10 years and provide download speeds of at least 100 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 20 Mbps.
The NTIA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, indicated that secondary BEAD criteria include speed to deployment and speed of the network. More information, including a state-by-state update of the Benefit of the Bargain round, is found here.
Final Proposals, including at least one Benefit of the Bargain round, must be submitted by September 4, according to the press release.
Additional information about the BEAD Program, including links to state funding resources, previous awards made, NTIA news, state-specific Telecompetitor coverage, and more can be found on Telecompetitor’s Broadband Nation pages.
