Receiving 2,200 applications seeking over seven times the amount that is to be distributed, agencies administering the broadband stimulus program told a U.S. Senate panel in the last week of October that the first grants and loans won’t be issued until mid-December, about a month later than they had initially planned.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) along with the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), a division of the Department of Agriculture are distributing $7.2 billion of the federal stimulus dollars.
The GAO also told the Senate Commerce Committee on the broadband stimulus programs that the NTIA and RUS face scheduling, staffing, and data challenges in evaluating applications and awarding funds. Furthermore, the GAO notes the NTIA, through its new Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, and RUS, through its new Broadband Initiatives Program, must review more applications and award far more funds than the agencies formerly handled through their legacy telecommunications grant or loan programs.
“We’re going to take a few more weeks here to make sure we get this right,” Lawrence Strickling, the assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information and administrator at the NTIA, told members of the Senate
To find the highlights of the GAO report, please visit: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10192t.pdf
Rural criteria was also discussed with the Senate panel. Under the RUS’ Broadband Improvement Program, only areas designated as remote — defined as at least 50 miles from an urban center — would qualify for 100 percent grants.
It was noted that the definition of the term had raised concerns among prospective applicants.
“We’ve heard a lot of concern about the definition of remote, and we’re going to revisit that in the next NOFA,” Adelstein said, adding that RUS is “completely open” to changing the definition in the next notice of funding availability. “We are looking at other ways to evaluate this.”
The deadline to award the $7.2 billion is Sept. 30, 2010.