BEAD Grant Contracts

To receive Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding, broadband providers will have to sign a contract with a state broadband office. The grant contract is the most important document in the grant process because it specifically defines what a grant winner must do to fulfill the grant and how they will be reimbursed. The grant contract is going to define a lot of important things:

• This is the document that will define the line of credit that must be provided.
• The contract is going to define the specific environmental studies that are required, along with the timing of the environmental work. 
• The contract is going to define how the broadband office envisions implementing the many issues that were in the grant application. 
• Perhaps the most important part of the contract is that it is going to define how the ISP will get reimbursed for completed work. 
• The contract is likely to have an expected contract completion date. The contract might require an ISP to finish the construction in the time that the ISP proposed in the grant application – while also imposing delays with things like environmental studies, compliance, and reimbursement rules that might make it hard for the ISP to meet that schedule.