Government Accountability Office

Access to broadband is critical for work, school, and healthcare. Federal programs have received billions of dollars in recent years to build broadband networks in remote or underserved areas. Some programs expect to complete these networks before the end of 2029—others in 2030 and beyond. Federal programs use Federal Communications Commission data to target funding to underserved areas. FCC accepts challenges from the public on the accuracy of its data and updates it as needed. But small communities and providers with few resources find the challenge process burdensome.

The General Services Administration is responsible for ensuring that federal agencies have access to telecommunications services. GSA recently managed 221 agencies’ transitions from expired telecommunications contracts to the replacement contract. This transition was delayed by over 3 years, and agencies had to extend their old contracts to try to avoid service disruptions.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act provided budget authorities for transportation, infrastructure, and energy projects. Together, the four agencies selected for this review—the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Interior, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and Department of Transportation—obligated a majority of their IIJA or IRA funding.

The Government Accountability Office highlighted three areas where open recommendations to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration should be given high priority:

In 2021, the Federal Highway Administration issued a final rule—the “dig once” rule—establishing new broadband infrastructure regulatory requirements for state departments of transportation that receive federal-aid highway program funding. These requirements included (1) identifying a broadband utility coordinator, (2) establishing certain processes to register and notify internet service providers and other entities, and (3) coordinating initiatives with state and local plans.