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By Carl Northrop and Ashley Brydone-Jack of Telecommunications Law Professionals PLLC
NTIA released its Notice of Funding Opportunity for three broadband grant programs last Friday. Yesterday, Inside Towers gave details of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants. Today, we turn our attention to the Middle Mile (MM) Broadband Infrastructure Program to which $1 billion was allotted in the Infrastructure Act last year. MM grant money may be used to construct, improve, or acquire middle mile infrastructure to reduce the cost of extending broadband access to areas that are unserved or underserved.
MM fund grants can go to governmental entities (states, D.C., Puerto Rico, U.S. territories, local governmental entities and Tribal governments) and to private entities (tech companies, electric utilities, cooperatives, non-profits, regional planning councils, economic development authorities, etc.) Non-state and non-governmental entities that apply must coordinate their efforts with the applicable governmental broadband office to assure that the request is consistent with the broadband plan and priorities for the jurisdiction.
NTIA expects to award grants ranging from $5 million to $100 million for eligible projects. All applicants must demonstrate they have the financial, technical, managerial, and operational qualifications to establish the proposed middle mile infrastructure on a timely basis. The amount of a grant shall not exceed 70 percent of the total costs associated with an approved project, meaning that participants in the program will be required to fund 30 percent themselves. NTIA will not entertain waivers of this matching requirement unless the participant is a Tribal government or Native entity.
Applications can be filed with NTIA starting June 21, 2022 and the application window closes on September 30, 2022. Applications must be submitted through NTIA’s Application Portal. Among other things, applications must contain a series of required forms and certifications, a complete budget, a detailed project narrative, a negotiated indirect cost rate agreement, and extensive materials to demonstrate the applicant’s qualifications. NTIA encourages interested parties to begin preparing their application early as doing so will be a time intensive process.
NTIA will first review applications to determine if the applicant meets the minimum eligibility qualifications. Next, NTIA will have at least three objective reviewers assess the applications on the merits, awarding points on a scale of 0-100 for how well a proposed project serves the program’s purpose, how well it will benefit the public, and the project’s sustainability. NTIA anticipates it will complete its review and begin releasing approved awards by February 16, 2023, and that the start date for approved awards will be no earlier than March 1, 2023.
Successful applicants will be required to meet a series of construction benchmarks: 40 percent completion at the end of year two; 60 percent by the end of year three; 80 percent by the end of year four. By the end of year five the project must be completed, lit and operating.
Look for a summary of the Digital Equity Program in tomorrow’s issue of Inside Towers.
Contact Carl Northrop and Ashley Brydone-Jack of Telecommunications Law Professionals PLLC at www.tlp.law.
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