BEAD and the Political Calendar

We don’t need any more delays in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant process, but there are potential delays on the horizon due to the political calendar. What do I mean by political calendar? There is going to be a new president in the White House, and that means a change in many of the people who run various cabinets and agencies. It could mean a new head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is run by an Assistant Secretary of Commerce. Changes could go a lot deeper, because it’s not unusual for a number of lower-level staff at an agency like the NTIA to leave when their appointed bosses leave. This matters because NTIA will still play an active role in the BEAD grant process next year. In fact, no money will flow to grant winners until the NTIA blesses the entire pile of grants that are being proposed to be awarded by each State Broadband Office.