January 2010

NTIA, RUS Announce Final Round of Broadband Stimulus Funding

The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and USDA's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announced availability of $4.8 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grants and loans to expand broadband access and adoption in America. This is the second funding round for the agencies' broadband programs.

The investment will help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, and create jobs. NTIA and RUS also announced the rules for applying in this funding round, which have been modified to make the application process easier for applicants and better target program resources.

"Based on the feedback we received from stakeholders and our own experience in the first funding round, we are making the application process more user-friendly, sharpening our funding focus to make the biggest impact with this investment, and streamlining our review process to increase efficiency," said Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of NTIA.

"In response to lessons learned from the first funding round, RUS is making important changes that will make the process easier for applicants and target our resources toward''last-mile' broadband connections to homes and businesses," said Jonathan Adelstein, Administrator, Rural Utilities Service, United States Department of Agriculture. "This draws on our long experience in improving rural networks to the most difficult-to-reach areas of our country that need it most. We've streamlined the application process, added support for satellite service for rural residents left unserved after other funds are awarded, and provided ourselves more flexibility to target areas of greatest need. We are going to stretch every last dime to maximize economic development in rural areas that currently lack adequate broadband service."

The agencies announced the rules for this funding round in two separate but complementary Notices of Funds Availability (NOFAs) that promote each agency's distinct objectives.

Changes, Requirements, and Critical Details: Final Broadband Stimulus Opportunity for BTOP

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), more commonly known as the Stimulus Act, allocated $7.2 billion for broadband projects. Administrated by the US Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), the first round of funding was announced through a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) in July 2009. On January 15, 2010 NTIA announced the second and final round of broadband stimulus funding. This NOFA makes up to $2.6 billion through BTOP, including, approximately $2.35 billion for Comprehensive Community Infrastructure; at least $150 million for Public Computer Center; and, at least $100 million for Sustainable Broadband adoption.

This paper distills the critical details of the January 15, 2010 NOFA communities and organizations need in order to develop strategies for applying for this final round.

Additionally, this paper outlines how this round differs from the first round and how it affects applicants.

Key Changes

Separate BTOP and BIP Applications and Notices of Funding Availability.
NTIA's top priority is to fund "Comprehensive Community" Infrastructure Projects focusing on middle mile broadband projects and new or substantially upgraded connections to key community anchor institutions. Priority will be given to projects that include a Middle Mile component.
NTIA is removing the requirement that infrastructure projects connecting community anchor institutions, including community colleges, must be located in unserved or underserved areas, though projects in unserved and underserved areas will receive additional consideration.
Eligible applicants for both programs can choose whether to apply for BIP or BTOP, but should only apply for one for each project
Eliminated the proposed funded service area mapping tool and modified the service area delineations from Census blocks to Census tracts and block groups.
Revising BTOP's eligibility factors and will use just three criteria - eligible entities, fully completed application, and matching
For this round of funding, NTIA will award grants in three categories of eligible projects: Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (CCI), Public Computer Centers (PCC), and Sustainable Broadband Adoption (SBA).
NTIA will give additional consideration to projects that propose to contribute a non-federal cost share/match that equals or exceeds 30 percent of the total eligible costs of the project.
NTIA has removed the budget reasonableness and technical feasibility factors from the eligibility requirements, because these categories are more effectively evaluated during the expert review and due diligence phases of application consideration.
NTIA has changed the number of expert reviewers from at least three to at least two
NTIA will now collect the information most essential to project review in the application itself, with the option to collect additional data during the due diligence review, as needed
NTIA has reduced the overall number of attachments to the applications
All applicants are required to submit their applications electronically at https://applyonline.broadbandusa.gov. Applications will not be accepted via paper, facsimile machine transmission, electronic mail, or other media format, except through the request of waiver.

Changes, Requirements and Critical Details: Final Broadband Stimulus Opportunity for BIP

On January 15, 2010 RUS announced the final round of broadband stimulus funding. This NOFA makes $2.2 Billion available, including $1.7 billion for Last Mile projects, up to $300 million for Middle Mile projects, up to $100 million for Satellite projects, as well as any funds not committed to Last Mile or Middle Mile and up to $5 Million for Rural Library and Technical Assistance projects. Additionally, $95 Million is kept in reserve and funds may be repooled from one category to another. This paper distills the critical details of the January 15, 2010 RUS NOFA communities and organizations need in order to develop strategies for applying for this final round of funding from BIP.

Additionally, this paper outlines how this round differs from the first round and how it affects applicants.

Key Changes

Separate BTOP and BIP Applications and Notices of Funding Availability
Funding for Satellite, Technical Assistance and Rural Library Broadband Projects
Areas that do not have broadband service of 5 Mbps (up and down combined) lack high-speed broadband and qualify for funding [NOFA p. 6].
RUS to focus on Last Mile projects while NTIA focuses on Middle Mile. [NOFA p. 6]
RUS will still fund Middle Mile, but recommends only for current RUS loan or grant recipients
Eliminated "Last Mile Remote" funding category [NOFA p. 7]
Created new categories:

Satellite Project category Satellite Project means any project to provide satellite broadband service to unserved rural premises (including households, businesses, public safety entities, and critical community facilities), either by funding customer-premises equipment, terrestrial equipment, and/or discounted broadband service for at least one year. [NOFA p. 18]
Rural Library Broadband Projects
Technical Assistance Projects

Funding provided as 75/25 grant/loan combinations. Applicants may request more than 75% grant [NOFA p. 8]
Rural applicants may apply directly to BTOP
Single-step review process [NOFA p. 11]
No longer based on census-block data [NOFA p. 13]
If the NTIA passes on a project that meets BIP's requirements, BIP might consider funding the project [NOFA p. 14]
Administer may favor applicants that provide certain intervention such as libraries or "persistent poverty counties" [NOFA pps. 14 - 15]
High Speed Access means high speed broadband service to facilitate rural economic development, or service at the rate of at least 5 Mbps (upstream and downstream combined). [NOFA p. 16]
Critical community facilities means public facilities that provide community services essential for supporting the safety, health, and well-being of residents, including, but not limited to, emergency response and other public safety activities, hospitals and clinics, libraries and schools. [NOFA p. 16]

Schools weigh in on national broadband plan

To help provide broadband access to more citizens, the Federal Communications Commission should expand the eligible uses of e-Rate discounts to include after-school programs and community centers, many school leaders and education groups say -- but only if the $2.25 billion-a-year funding cap also is raised.

The federal stimulus package that Congress passed last year directed the FCC to submit a National Broadband Plan to lawmakers by Feb. 17, but FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has asked for a one-month extension so the agency can comb through the vast number of public comments it has received over the past year as it has gathered input on how to make universal broadband a reality. Several dozen of those comments come from education stakeholders, who responded to the FCC's call for feedback on how it might leverage the e-Rate in its national plan. The e-Rate provides telecommunications discounts of up to 90 percent for eligible schools and libraries, based on the percentage of students they serve who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches and whether they are considered in an urban or rural area.

Under current program rules, schools applying for discounts cannot use e-Rate funded equipment to deliver Internet access to their communities, either by acting as an Internet service provider or by opening their facilities to the public after school. Relaxing these eligibility rules is an approach favored by several education stakeholders, including Albuquerque Public Schools, Chicago Public Schools, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), AT&T, and the state of Alaska, among others.

FCC Proposes Revising E-Rate

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed revising its rules regarding the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism, also known as the E-rate program, to comply with the requirements of the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act.

Among other things, the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act, titled Promoting Online Safety in Schools, revised the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act), by adding a new certification requirement for elementary and secondary schools that have computers with Internet access and receive discounts under the E-rate program. We also propose to revise related Commission rules to reflect existing statutory language more accurately.

Comments on the proposed rules are due on or before February 18, 2010 and reply comments are due on or before March 5, 2010.

Pick for Top Digital Job in Europe Is Grilled

The nomination of Neelie Kroes, who was hard-nosed as Europe's antitrust chief, to a new post as commissioner for the digital agenda was in doubt Friday after she was accused of being evasive during a testy appearance before a committee of the European Parliament.

Members of the two biggest blocs in Parliament, the conservatives and the Socialists, expressed concerns about the failure by Ms. Kroes to endorse clearly what they considered pro-consumer lines on price caps for mobile phone roaming, redeployment of broadcast frequencies for wireless broadband and revisions to digital copyright law.

After the hearing in Brussels, an Austrian member of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee, Paul Rübig, said the panel's political leadership had met and agreed to invite Ms. Kroes to a second, closed-door meeting next week in Strasbourg to clarify her positions. Her "nomination is on hold at the moment and it is now up to her," Mr. Rübig said.

Law Meant to Curb Lobbying Sends It Underground

Ellen Miller, co-founder of the Sunlight Foundation, has spent years arguing for rules to force more disclosure of how lobbyists and private interests shape public policy. Until recently, she herself registered as a lobbyist, too, publicly reporting her role in the group's advocacy of even more reporting. Not anymore. In light of strict new regulations imposed by Congress over the last two years, Ms. Miller joined a wave of policy advocates who are choosing not to declare themselves as lobbyists. "I have never spent much time on Capitol Hill," Ms. Miller said, explaining that she only supervises those who press lawmakers directly. "I am not lobbying, so why fill out the forms?" Her frankness makes Ms. Miller a standout among hundreds of others who are making the same decision. Though Washington's influence business is by all accounts booming, a growing number of its practitioners are taking a similar course to avoid the spotlight of public disclosure.

Roger Ailes is the real head of the GOP

[Commentary] Does the Republican Party have a "leader"?

Surely it's not Michael Steele, the loose-lipped chairman of the Republican National Committee. Not Mitch McConnell, the funereal Kentuckian who heads the Senate's rejectionist GOP minority. Not Sen John McCain; he's too busy watching his own right flank back home in Arizona. And certainly not the Bushes, elder and younger, hunkered down in Texas. As for the 2012 wannabes, none gets more than a fifth of the GOP vote in the early polls.

Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum—which is why God created Roger Ailes. The president of Fox News is, by default, the closest thing there is to a kingmaker in Anti-Obama America. And that, in turn, makes him the de facto leader of the GOP. In a relentless (and spectacularly successful) hunt for cable ratings, Ailes has given invaluable publicity to the tea partiers, furnished tryout platforms to GOP candidates, and trained a fire hose of populist anger at the president and his allies in Congress.

While Beltway Republicans wring their hands or write their tracts, Ailes has worked the countryside, using his feel for Main Street resentment to attract and give voice to this year's angriest—and most powerful—voter-viewers: those who hate the Feds, the Fed, and the Ivy League. It was Ailes who put the "party" in the tea parties by giving them a round-the-clock national stage. Next month Fox will have priority access to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville. The irony is that Ailes is not in the game to wield political power per se. He doesn't talk to the RNC and he can't stand most elected politicians, even the ones he puts on the air.

"It's beneath him to get into politics," says a longtime friend. In his universe, the Washington equation is reversed: political power begets profits, not the other way around. But if politics is a nonstop talk show, being the head booker means you are the boss. If Fox feels Nixonian in its resentments and its sometimes shaky fealty to the facts, well, that is what Jon Stewart is for.

Internet Politics From Both Sides Now

[Commentary] For a brief shining moment, late in the 2008 campaign, Democrats thought that they might own the Internet. A year later, some of the Democrats' advantage is still there. But it's been crumbling ever since Obama took office.

Republican politicians have taken over Twitter. Sarah Palin has 1.2 million followers on Facebook. And in liberal Massachusetts, Scott Brown, the Republican Senate candidate, has used Internet fund-raising to put the fear of God into the Bay State's establishment. The Web is just like every pre-Internet political arena: ideology matters less than the level of anger at the incumbent party, and the level of enthusiasm an insurgent candidate can generate. It's like other arenas, too, in its capacity to disappoint idealists. Indeed, it may be crueler to dreamers, because it offers an artificial sense of intimacy with politicians, without delivering any practical results. This is the bitter lesson many net-roots types have drawn from Obama's first year in office. The promises of transparency have given way to the reality of backroom deal-cutting. The attempts to turn the campaign's online community, weakly re-dubbed Organizing for America, into a permanent political force have flopped.

In a recent post on the Web site Personal Democracy Forum, Micah Sifry captured the free-floating sense of anger with Obama's governance: "The people who voted for him weren't organized in any kind of new or powerful way, and the special interests ... sat first at the table and wrote the menu. Myth met reality, and came up wanting."

As Shrinking Newsrooms Use Upstarts' Content, Vetting Questions Arise

News comes from more and more outlets, about which readers know less and less.

Publishers and broadcasters have always called on freelance journalists. But a generation ago, if they used material from another organization, it was usually limited to a handful of large, well-known and respected ones like The Associated Press or Reuters. With established newsrooms shrinking, a raft of smaller news outlets have cropped up in the last few years, selling or simply giving news reports to the traditional media — groups like ProPublica, Global Post, Politico and Kaiser Health News.

"There are more pressures than ever to acquire content from outside sources, and there are going to be even more going forward," said Alan D. Mutter, a media consultant and former newspaper editor who blogs about the news business. That means that despite declining resources, newsrooms, he said, "have to get better at due diligence in terms of who this provider is," and at explaining it to their audiences.

Benton

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