Initial 20% of BEAD Funding Unlikely to be Used for Broadband Awards

Some states will be filing their initial proposals in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband funding program soon if they haven’t already—and once the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approves a state’s proposal, the state will be eligible to receive 20 percent of its allocation of funds. That 20 percent can be a big number—exceeding $200 million for some states. It’s unlikely, however, that we will see that money being awarded for broadband deployments, as the rules for how the initial funding can be used are somewhat restrictive. A spokesperson for the NTIA said, “The primary use anticipated for a subset of the 20 percent of initial funds will be use by eligible entities to fund the conduct of their state challenge processes and their subgrantee programs. Once those are complete, eligible entities will submit their final proposal unlocking the remaining funds to implement their projects holistically. We recommend states take this approach prior to looking to use funds for other uses to ensure their deployment projects can be funded in full.” The spokesperson also said that the NTIA doesn’t automatically release the initial 20 percent of BEAD funds when a state’s initial proposal is approved. To access the funding, states and territories must submit an initial proposal funding request, which is different from the initial proposal. “This is essentially the administrative grants process that requires a budget and description of the use of the funds,” the spokesperson said.