From Promises to Performance: BEAD Enforcement Tools States Need Now

Since January 2025, much has changed about the Broadband Equity Access Deployment program, but some things have stayed the same. Billions are at stake, and BEAD-funded providers need to deliver for the program to succeed. To ensure this happens, states and territories must use all the tools at their disposal to (1) incentivize compliance, (2) ensure providers keep their promises, and (3) take swift, decisive action to fully remedy any failures to perform. BEAD already includes several compliance and enforcement mechanisms. But because it is a grant program,  BEAD does not impose punitive monetary penalties on providers that fail to deliver. Unless states and territories take steps now, the only monetary consequence for defaulting is that providers must return their BEAD-awarded funding. Too often, that will be too little, too late for the families still waiting for broadband connections. The time to act is now. States and territories are still drafting subgrantee agreements—and this is the moment to build in stronger protections. These agreements should include “make whole” or liquidated damages clauses that remedy nonperformance in ways that allow BEAD to connect locations that have gone too long without access to high-speed internet service. These provisions would raise the monetary stakes for providers in ways that help deter nonperformance, and, in the event of default, put the government in the best position to make up for any delayed deployments, connect unserved homes, and ensure BEAD’s success.

[Stephanie Weiner is a Senior Research Fellow at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology, Law and Policy. Prior to her fellowship, she served as Chief Counsel at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she led the legal teams implementing historic federal investments to expand broadband internet access and to foster wireless supply chain innovation.]