White House Should Develop 'National Broadband Strategy,' GAO Says
The White House should “develop and implement a national broadband strategy,” and “federal broadband efforts are fragmented and overlapping," GAO said in a report released Tuesday. Fifteen federal agencies administer more than 100 federal connectivity programs, but “U.S. broadband efforts…
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are not guided by a national strategy with clear roles, goals, objectives, and performance measures,” GAO said in its report to Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and four other panel Republicans. The White House “has not decided if a national strategy is needed, but it is well positioned to develop and implement one. A strategy to help better align programs could also include legislative proposals for Congress. Without such a strategy, federal broadband efforts will not be fully coordinated, and thereby continue to risk overlap and duplication of effort.” The office noted NTIA led an interagency group in 2018 to review differing broadband program definitions, but the agency “did not identify which statutory provisions limit alignment nor recommend any changes." GAO urged NTIA's Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth to write a report to Congress “that identifies the key statutory provisions that limit the beneficial alignment of broadband programs and offers legislative proposals to address the limitations.” NTIA should also direct the office to “regularly seek and incorporate feedback when updating” its BroadbandUSA federal funding guide, GAO said. NTIA said it “agrees with” both agency-focused recommendations, in comments released with the GAO report, noting it's "imperative" federal entities are well-coordinated on broadband spending priorities. NTIA “is prepared to develop” the proposed report and planned to release details of its “planned actions” once the “final GAO report is issued." The agency hadn’t released those plans Wednesday afternoon.