Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program Reporting Requirements

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I’ve already written about the complexity of applying for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants. Unfortunately, the paperwork doesn’t stop there. There are reporting requirements both for States and for grant recipients that begin when grant funds have been awarded that ask for a lot more information than any other grant I can recall. The requirements for States matter because States will likely request much of the same information from each grant recipient. And any internet service provider (ISP) who takes the BEAD grants needs to recognize that there is going to be a major ongoing reporting effort – and it will happen at the same time that you’re still busy building the network. These reporting requirements are going to require ISPs to keep track of and compile a lot more data about the customers on a grant network than what ISPs have ever done in the past. As someone who has seen the books and records of hundreds of ISP, I can tell you that a lot of ISPs are not ready to keep records in the needed detail for this reporting. If you take the grant money, you better get ready.

[Doug Dawson is president of CCG Consulting.]


BEAD Reporting Requirements