In May 2022, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published an oft-quoted report that described federal funding for broadband as a “fragmented, overlapping patchwork.” Despite more than 100 broadband-related programs investing millions of dollars into deployment, affordability, planning, digital skills, and connective devices, GAO found that “millions of Americans still lack broadband, and communities with limited resources may be most affected by fragmentation.”

GAO asked the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to present to Congress a report that 1) identifies the key statutory provisions limiting the beneficial alignment of broadband programs and 2) offers legislative proposals to address the limitations, as appropriate. On September 6, 2024, NTIA released Proposals to Improve Broadband Program Alignment to fulfill GAO's request. Here we highlight NTIA's major findings. 

Aligning Federal Broadband Programs

Since the publication of GAO's findings, federal agencies have adopted new strategies to avoid fragmentation, duplication, and overlap of federal broadband programs, including improved duplication prevention processes, increased transparency through data sharing, and better alignment on key program policies. NTIA recaps four major efforts.

1. Coordinating the Impact of Federal Broadband Funding

In the spring of 2022, NTIA undertook a systematic effort to better understand other agencies’ award processes and to align on a desired high-level approach to better coordinate the impact of federal broadband funding with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Treasury, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In July 2022, NTIA shared the preliminary results of that analysis and proposed the following process:

• Any awarding agency should first conduct analysis to determine whether potential areas of duplication exist, or in the case of a pass-through award, should direct its recipients to conduct the analysis.
• If the awarding agency identifies a potentially duplicative project, it should then notify the relevant agencies with sufficient notice before award decisions have been made.
• The awarding agency should meet with the other relevant agency or agencies to discuss areas of duplication and, to the extent possible, resolve the potential duplication.
• Resolution should be confirmed and documented prior to issuing the award.

Over the next several months, NTIA worked with the USDA, Treasury, and the FCC to identify common tools for overlap analysis prior to making an award. This effort will become easier as federal agencies add more programs and more complete data to the Broadband Funding Map, allowing the map to show a more complete picture of where federal funding for the deployment of broadband infrastructure has been committed. 

2. Data Sharing and Transparency

NTIA, in partnership with multiple agencies, is striving to publish transparent and data-driven resources that communicate the availability of broadband funding opportunities, where funding has been committed, and where funding may still be needed. For example, NTIA has been building on its longstanding partnership with the Census Bureau to:

• Create data products and tools to better understand broadband and digital equity challenges. In May 2021, the Census Bureau released the Digital Equity Act Population Viewer, an interactive collection of maps that includes the first-ever estimates of the “covered populations” defined by the Digital Equity Act of 2021, while highlighting various demographics and broadband Internet availability and adoption by state.
• Publish the ACCESS BROADBAND Dashboard, a resource designed for policymakers and the public to assess how changes in broadband availability and adoption could influence local economies. The interactive dashboard allows users to compare maps displaying broadband access statistics to maps of select economic indicators, such as employment statistics, small business establishments, wages and income, poverty, population change and migration, educational attainment, and real gross domestic product. NTIA and the Census Bureau plan to update the dashboard annually so users can assess the economic context of areas where broadband availability and adoption efforts are underway. Each release will include the interactive dashboard and supplemental data files so users can access the underlying map data.

3. Program and Policy Alignment

Since early 2022, the White House’s National Economic Council has regularly convened the four lead agencies responsible for the vast majority of broadband funding (FCC, USDA, Commerce, and Treasury) through a working group co-chaired by  NTIA. This Broadband Coordination Group includes senior staff from each agency and meets regularly to promote alignment between programs, discuss policy issues, and raise recommendations to agency and White House principals as needed.

Going forward, a key aspect of program alignment will be delivering consistent reporting standards for funding recipients, both for infrastructure and digital inclusion activities.

While the agencies continue to drive alignment, fully integrating applications for all federal broadband grant programs is not possible, given the wide range of purposes, timelines, and intended recipients for congressionally-created programs, as well as differences in underlying statutes. In some cases, however, agencies can agree to adopt common application policies across programs. 

4. Benefits of Complementary Programs

The GAO report paints a picture of fragmented, overlapping programs. While NTIA is working to alleviate the negative effects of fragmentation, GAO itself has noted that fragmentation can sometimes have benefits, such as the creation of defined roles and responsibilities. NTIA has the expertise required to administer the BEAD Program through the states in part because of the expertise the agency developed by providing technical assistance to states for over a decade through the State Broadband Initiative, the BroadbandUSA program, and the relationships the agency has developed through the State Broadband Leaders Network (SBLN).

With coordination and transparency, complementary federal deployment programs can be a means for different types of stakeholders to leverage multiple sources of funding to ensure that all areas achieve connectivity. In its technical assistance, NTIA has encouraged states to view the broadband deployment programs of the FCC, USDA, Treasury, and NTIA as “waves” of funding, with each successive program filling in gaps left by the preceding one. Waves of funding help ensure locations that were missed, overlooked, or uncompetitive in previous grant programs still have the chance to be served by subsequent programs.

Recommendations on Aligning Federal Broadband Programs

GAO asked NTIA to make recommendations to address barriers that limit the beneficial alignment of broadband programs. NTIA identified three areas where Congressional or administrative solutions could better align programs, reduce the potential for overlap, and add needed transparency for applicants and other stakeholders:

1. Program Alignment: Programs should be standardized to reduce complexity and unnecessary variation for applicants and other stakeholders.
2. Coordinating the Impact of Funding: More work can be done to promote the most efficient uses of federal broadband funding for locations with unmet need. Agencies should work to document standard operating procedures.
3. Data and Mapping: NTIA envisions a future state of interagency data collaboration in which different data sources and resources feed into one another and multiple agencies contribute based on their statutory responsibilities and data expertise.

NTIA makes one recommendation that would require Congressional action.

• Impose consistent data collection requirements at authorization: New federal broadband support programs, if mandated, could include regular reporting requirements in line with the data standards required for the Broadband Funding Map and NTIA’s annual ACCESS BROADBAND Act report on federal broadband funding for any project that will fund broadband-related activities, including deployment, planning, and digital inclusion. Congress could consider aligning definitions of broadband infrastructure between the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the ACCESS BROADBAND Act, which would encourage all agencies with responsive data to report into the Broadband Funding Map.

On the administrative front, NTIA offers a number of recommendations.

• Continue to move to common policies: NTIA has developed a set of common application, award, and reporting policies, such as including “de-scoping” powers in the award conditions in the case of inadvertent duplication and including Tribal consent requirements as a requirement for the award of federal funding. NTIA will continue to support agencies that wish to adopt these standard policies.
• Impose reporting requirements on grant recipients in award documents: When creating programmatic documents, agencies should include data reporting requirements for the Broadband Funding Map and NTIA’s data collection obligations under the ACCESS BROADBAND Act. As NTIA continues to develop digital equity standards, agencies should ensure the reporting expectations for any digital equity programs conform to those standards. As appropriate, agencies may consider instructing recipients to provide data directly to the FCC or NTIA for reporting to reduce administrative costs for the awarding agency. 
• Support key ongoing federal data collections and the development of new data products: Comprehensive program evaluation and policy research can benefit substantially from consistent data on broadband adoption, digital equity, and related issues in addition to reporting from the programs themselves. Support for the development of federal data products that complement reported program data, such as small-area estimates of key metrics, could also prove valuable to programs and policy development across agencies.
• Support a state-federal confidential data-exchange ecosystem: States, Internet service providers, and federal agencies all have roles to play in making broadband data transparent, accessible, and informative—all of which are key to ensuring the efficient use of federal funds and guarding against duplicative federal funding. NTIA will continue to explore ways to encourage or incentivize states to contribute data to the Broadband Funding Map. Without accurate data about state investments, it may be difficult for federal agencies to make fully informed decisions about the most efficient uses of federal broadband funding.
• Enshrine a deduplication process: Although agencies have worked together to create an effective deduplication process, those agreements are largely not formalized. The agencies should consider revising the 2021 Interagency Agreement and the 2022 memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a single, consistent deduplication review process that includes a review period for other broadband agencies before the funding agency makes final commitments. The MOU should establish an expedited process to add other agencies to the MOU, to ensure a quick pathway to coordinate the efforts of other agencies that administer funding programs and develop related policy goals.

NTIA and other federal agencies have undertaken significant efforts to improve program alignment since the May 2022 GAO report. Congress and the Executive Branch can continue to work to ensure federal funding for broadband access, adoption, and availability is used efficiently and enables the common goal of closing the digital divide.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

© Benton Institute for Broadband & Society 2024. Redistribution of this email publication - both internally and externally - is encouraged if it includes this copyright statement.

For subscribe/unsubscribe info, please email headlinesATbentonDOTorg

Kevin Taglang
Executive Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Institute
for Broadband & Society
1041 Ridge Rd, Unit 214
Wilmette, IL 60091
847-220-4531
headlines AT benton DOT org

Share this edition:

Broadband Delivers Opportunities and Strengthens Communities