Federal Award Information

This Section provides basic information such as the amounts made available under the BEAD Program, key dates, the circumstances in which the Assistant Secretary may grant extensions, and the treatment of unallocated and unawarded funds.

A. Funding Availability

NTIA will make up to $41,601,000,000 available for federal assistance under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program.19

B. Period of Performance

Completed Letters of Intent must be received by NTIA through the application portal no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on July 18, 2022. Either with its Letter of Intent or afterwards, an Eligible Entity may submit a request for Initial Planning Funds. Upon submission of the Letter of Intent, the Point of Contact for each Eligible Entity that requests Initial Planning Funds through the application portal will be provided with additional information about submission requirements for that funding, including but not limited to standard forms and a budget narrative template. All requests for Initial Planning Funds and supplemental information must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on August 15, 2022.

Eligible Entities that receive Initial Planning Funds must submit their Five-Year Action Plans to NTIA no later than 270 days after their receipt of Initial Planning Funds.

Eligible Entities will be notified of future submission deadlines after the Commission’s Broadband DATA Maps are released. Eligible Entities’ Initial Proposals may be submitted immediately after Eligible Entities are formally notified of their formula allocations and will be due to NTIA no later than 180 days after that date. Final Proposals will be due to NTIA no later than 365 days after the approval of the Initial Proposal by the Assistant Secretary.

Eligible Entities may submit their Letters of Intent, Five-Year Action Plans, Initial Proposals, and Final Proposals at any time during the windows established in this NOFO, and are encouraged to file their submissions as soon as they are prepared to do so.

As established in Section 60102(h)(4)(C) of the Infrastructure Act, subgrantees that receive BEAD Program funds for network deployment must deploy the planned broadband network and begin providing services to each customer that desires broadband service within the project area not later than four years after the date on which the subgrantee receives the subgrant from the Eligible Entity.

1. Extensions

Extensions may be granted for both the Eligible Entity and subgrantees under the following circumstances:

An Eligible Entity may extend the four-year network deployment deadline for subgrantees by not more than one year if: 

• (1) the subgrantee has a specific plan for use of the grant funds, with project completion expected by a specific date not more than one year after the four-year deadline; 
• (2) the construction project is underway; or 
• (3) extenuating circumstances require an extension of time to allow the project to be completed.

Extensions for Eligible Entities for any part of the process may be granted at the sole discretion of the Assistant Secretary when extenuating circumstances demonstrate that additional time will support the overall goals of the BEAD Program.

2. Petition for Extension

Each Eligible Entity must develop a process by which subgrantees may request extensions and provide documentation about the qualifying circumstance that warrants the extension.

If an Eligible Entity is seeking an extension for any part of the process with respect to which the Infrastructure Act does not authorize the Eligible Entity itself to grant such extension, it shall make a request in writing to NTIA and explain the need for such an extension. Such requests will then be evaluated by the Assistant Secretary based on the text of the Infrastructure Act and the goals of the BEAD Program.

C. Award Amount

States may request up to $5,000,000 in Initial Planning Funds. Further, each State is eligible to receive a minimum initial allocation of $100,000,000 (inclusive of the Initial Planning Funds). Territories may request up to $1,250,000 of in Initial Planning funds and are each eligible to receive an initial minimum allocation of $25,000,000. Remaining funds will be allocated to Eligible Entities based on the formulas provided in Section 60102(c)(1) and (c)(3) of the Infrastructure Act.

NTIA will notify Eligible Entities of the funding allocations available to each Eligible Entity according to the process described in Section IV.B.4.c.

D. Treatment of Unallocated and Unused Funds

If an Eligible Entity fails to submit a covered application (i.e., a Letter of Intent, Initial Proposal, or Final Proposal) by the applicable deadline or any subsequent resubmission deadlines if revisions are needed, a political subdivision or consortium of political subdivisions of the Eligible Entity may submit the applicable type of covered application in place of the Eligible Entity. For more information on the ability of political subdivisions to apply in place of Eligible Entities see Section IV.B.10 of this NOFO.

Subject to the application failure provisions set forth in Section IV.B.10, if an Eligible Entity (including an Eligible Entity’s political subdivision or a consortium of such subdivisions) fails to submit a covered application by the applicable deadline (including any deadlines for resubmission if revisions are needed) and no extension is granted, the Assistant Secretary may reallocate the amounts that would have been available to that Eligible Entity to the Eligible Entities that did submit and receive approval by the applicable deadline. Such reallocation will be based on the percentage of unserved locations in each Eligible Entity. If an Eligible Entity fails to use the full allocation made to that Eligible Entity by the applicable deadline, the Assistant Secretary may reallocate the unused amounts to other Eligible Entities with approved Final Proposals based on the percentage of unserved locations in each Eligible Entity. The number of unserved locations in each Eligible Entity for the purposes of such reallocations will be made using the most recently published version of the Broadband DATA Maps available as of the date the Assistant Secretary determines reallocation is appropriate.

E. Type Funding Instrument

The funding instrument for awards made pursuant to this NOFO will be a grant.