One-Month Delay in Broadband Grant Awards, NTIA Tells Senate
NTIA told the Senate Commerce Committee it will take it one month longer than anticipated to award the first round of grants, initially targeted for award in early November, due to the complexity of the process. But officials expect to meet the overall program target of delivering the $7.2 billion in loan and grant money by Sept. 30, they told an oversight hearing on the broadband program. The Government Accountability Office said condensing two rounds of funding into one would give NTIA and Rural Utilities Service (RUS), which are co-managing the program, more time to review applications in the broadband stimulus grant program.
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“I believe that to be fair to applicants, we need to find a way to simplify the process going forward,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. Rockefeller said he didn’t think the broadband program should have been placed under RUS, but feels that Director Jonathan Adelstein “is up to the task.” Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, the committee’s top Republican, said she’s concerned that funding for oversight of the program runs out before the program ends. Hutchison also said she has qualms about the use of independent reviewers in scrutinizing applications.
“I assure you these Recovery Act funds will be money well spent,” NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said. “There have been no turf battles” between the two agencies in working together on the programs, said Strickling, addressing a concern raised by Rockefeller. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D- Mo., said it was “nonsense” to put two agencies in charge of the broadband grant program. “If I could have a magic wand I would morph the two of you into one.”
Consolidating the three rounds of funding into two could mitigate the challenges the compressed schedule poses for applicants in the first funding round, said Mark Goldstein, director of GAO physical infrastructure issues. Given the number of applications, short time period for review and limited staff, problems “may persist with two funding rounds,” he said.
NTIA and RUS are overseeing “a far greater number of projects than in the past,” Goldstein said. The agencies are on track to fund 1,000 projects each before Sept. 30. In the past, NTIA awarded an average of 55 grants a year through its Technology Opportunities Program, while RUS averaged 21 grants a year in its Community Connect grants and 15 a year in the Broadband Access Loan program. Staffing is stretched thin, a GAO report on the issue said. “NTIA will have about one full-time equivalent staff available for every 24 projects.” RUS would have one staffer available for every 21 projects, the report said.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., pushed Strickling to fund qualified projects immediately, rather than in December, so the stimulus money can get out as soon as possible to help with job creation. “That was supposed to be the purpose of the stimulus funding.” Strickling said it’s important to ensure all projects are sound before making hasty decisions, which could lead to projects that aren’t sustainable over the long term.
Several senators expressed concern over the definition of “rural” under RUS. McCaskill wondered why the agencies didn’t use the definition Congress put into the farm bill. “The definition of the word remote is extremely important to us. I am very interested in how you are going to define this,” Rockefeller said. The agencies are “finalizing a request” for information seeking public input on how the first round worked and what changes should be made for the second round, Adelstein said. “We are contemplating major revisions” in defining what a remote area is for purposes of obtaining a grant or loan, he said. “There is widespread agreement that we might not have gotten the definition right.”