US Broadband Stimulus Funding
Latest News: NTIA and RUS Extend Electronic Filing Deadline
August 13, 2009
Reportedly due to congestion in the electronic filing infrastructure, the NTIA and RUS have extended the electronic filing deadline for the first round of grants. To be specific (quoting from their on-line notice):
SUMMARY: RUS and NTIA announce that the application closing deadline for the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is extended until 5 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on August 20, 2009, for any electronic applications pending as of 5 p.m. ET on August 14, 2009. There are no changes to the filing instructions for paper applications.
DATES: An applicant that is submitting an application for the BIP and BTOP electronically will be permitted to complete electronic submission of its application until 5 p.m. ET on August 20, 2009, so long as its application was pending in the Easygrants® System as of 5 p.m. ET on August 14, 2009 (application closing deadline).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general inquiries regarding BIP, contact David J. Villano, Assistant Administrator Telecommunications Program, Rural Utilities Service, e-mail: bip@wdc.usda.gov telephone: (202) 690–0525. For general inquiries regarding BTOP, contact Anthony Wilhelm, Deputy Associate Administrator, Infrastructure Division, Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, email: btop@ntia.doc.gov, telephone: (202) 482–2048.
Other Resources
The new Broadband USA portal
The Notice of Funding Availability
Our executive summary of the NOFA, with a roughly 10:1 compression ratio.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in full text, for reference
The NTIA's website, http://www.ntia.doc.gov/
The RUS website, www.usda.gov/rus/
The Administration’s stimulus tracking site, www.recovery.gov
An excellent posting from Foley Hoag LLP that provides an intro to the $11b in smart grid stimulus that will have an impact on the telecom world as well
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For those of you who like to skip to the back of the novel to find out how it ends, we've put together a crisp executive summary of the NOFA's 121 dense pages. A good place to start if you're still not sure if you want to organize a proposal for this first round.
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Two Excellent Resources
Compendium of Current Public Broadband Initiatives
This 2008 joint report from the Alliance for Public Technology and the Communication Workers of America provides a wealth of detail on public initiatives in every state — an excellent resource for connections for potential public/private partnership opportunities and best practices in enhancing community services of many kinds.
MSU Research Report on Economic Benefits of Rural Broadband
Dr. Robert LaRose and a number of colleagues at Michigan State University recently published an outstanding study on Closing the Broadband Gap, in which they report in detail on their findings from a thorough look at the economic benefits of rural broadband networks. These findings should be useful as you craft your proposals to NTIA and RUS.
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Our original overview of the stimulus programs is still a good introductory read for anyone unfamiliar with their origins and intent.
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