Billions in ICT Stimulus Money Called Available Outside NTIA, RUS
Information and communications technology companies are missing big opportunities if they look only to NTIA and RUS for stimulus money, speakers said Tuesday at a Vienna, Va., event sponsored by TIA and the Northern Virginia Technology Council. They said billions of dollars more are available for ICT in the stimulus law beyond the broadband programs.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
It’s unclear just how much additional ICT money is available, Dutko Senior Vice President Brian Sailer told us after one panel. He said the ICT opportunities often aren’t in specific line items, as they are with the NTIA and RUS grants, but are part of larger projects that need the technologies.
Educational technology is expected to get $650 million in stimulus, said Kevin Plexico, senior vice president for research and analysis at Input, which does government- contracting research. Much of that technology could be ICT, he said.
ICT money is “hidden all over” in the stimulus package, said Karen Jackson, Virginia’s deputy secretary of technology. She said money is available in education, public safety interoperability, health IT, smart grid, transportation and energy, among others.
Health IT is likely to be one of the big growth areas, said Ray Sullivan, who recently retired as Veterans Affairs’ chief information officer. He said the key is agreeing on standards for compiling and sharing patient information. He called that a business and “turf” rather than technology issue. But the VA and the Defense Department are “coming together to drive the standards,” Sullivan said, and once that happens “you will start seeing things move very rapidly.”
Getting stimulus money remains a problem, Jackson said. Virginia had a broadband map down to street addresses even before the recovery Act was proposed, she said, but FCC requirements have compelled the state to re-jigger it to the census-tract level and reduce its request to $1.8 million.
There also have been bureaucratic problems, including RUS’ seeking comments on the first round of grants even before they've gone out -- raising fears that grant applications might be affected by critical comments, Jackson said. “We pulled back our comments for fear of hurting Virginia applicants’ chances.” She said many potential applicants have been afraid of the amount of federal oversight of grant money, and a lack of clarity in the rules. Plexico said he worries some companies that don’t even apply for grants, only supplying goods or services used by applicants, could get trapped in the federal audit process.
Most importantly, those doing broadband projects shouldn’t wait for stimulus money, Jackson said. “The whole industry has been stagnant for nine months” because applicants were reluctant to commit money that might be needed to match grants, she said. “Do it now and don’t wait for ARRA.”