The $21 Billion Question: What To Do With Leftover BEAD Funds?

Since June 6, when the Trump NTIA released its BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice (RPN), states have been racing to update their maps of eligible locations, conduct a new “Benefit of the Bargain” (BOTB) round, negotiate with prospective subgrantees, release Final Proposal (FP) drafts for 7 days of public comment, and submit FPs to NTIA by September 4. Many states met this ambitious deadline, but 16 required extensions. Forty-nine states and 3 territories have released some version of their Final Proposal. On average, these states have used 47.3% of their total allocation for broadband deployment. This has yielded $20.4B in BEAD “savings” to date. If the remaining 1 state (California) and 2 territories (Puerto Rico; U.S. Virgin Islands) allocate their funds in a similar way, then the amount of leftover BEAD funds would total $21.6B. There are real needs that could benefit immensely from the strategic investment of leftover BEAD funds. These funds should not be used, though, on projects that would yield duplicative network infrastructure.