By Ryan Johnston
States are required to submit a series of documents throughout the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (“BEAD”) program process, which includes a 5-Year Action plan, the state’s initial proposal, and a final proposal. Each comes with its own deadline. While some dates are set by actions taken by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”), others are contingent on when states received initial planning grant funds. This article highlights major filing due dates and insights on state timelines.
5-YEAR ACTION PLANS | So far, Hawaii, Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Utah have submitted 5-year action plans. Even though 5-year action plans are not required to be circulated for public comment, many states have done so. As a result, those states have a better understanding of which municipalities have broadband deployment and digital equity plans underway and which do not. Public input also enables states to address specific community concerns that would otherwise be left out of proposal documents submitted to the NTIA.
The BEAD notice of funding opportunity details the 13 requirements that states must address. The 5-year action plan is intended to provide a foundation for the work states outline in their initial and final proposals. 5-year action plans must be submitted to NTIA within 270 days of the receipt of initial planning funds by a state. In effect, many states will have 5-year action plans due in August 2023.
INITIAL PROPOSALS | The initial proposal, also known as a state’s “first draft,” explains how the state plans to use BEAD funding to provide reliable, affordable, high-speed broadband connections to all of their residents. Section IV.B.5.b of the BEAD Notice outlines the 19 requirements that include a responsibility to identify existing state funding streams and disclose the process for choosing subgrantees.
The NTIA requires that all initial proposals be submitted within 180 days of the date BEAD funding allocations were announced. It made this announcement on June 30, 2023, which means states have until December 27, 2023, to submit their initial proposals. To date, only two states have submitted volume 1 of their initial proposals, Louisiana and Virginia.
FINAL PROPOSALS | Once initial proposals have been approved by the NTIA the states will have one year to submit their final proposals to the NTIA. As each state’s initial proposal will be approved at a different time, there is no uniform date for final proposal submissions.
As of July 2023, no state has had an initial proposal approved or submitted a final proposal. NTIA is releasing 5-year action plans, digital equity plans, and initial proposals as it receives them. Local officials, community-based organizations, and concerned citizens should use these documents to learn about commitments their state has made to obtain BEAD funding and ways to get involved in the deliberation process.
The BEAD program will help close the digital divide for a significant portion of disconnected Americans if people know how to weigh-in on state-level processes and hold states accountable for taking action. For communities that want to get involved, the NTIA has released a map with contact information for state broadband offices, and NTIA Federal Program Officers. However, if states fail to conduct timely outreach, they risk not providing cities, counties, and interested residents time to share insights that could alter the course of deployment planning.
