Federal Infrastructure Funding Creates Huge Broadband Responsibilities for States

States will receive billions to improve broadband access from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), but have limited experience administering broadband grant programs. Here are important priorities to consider to effectively use the money:

• Developing a statewide five-year strategic plan that serves as the foundation for successful investment and fulfills IIJA submission requirements.
• Defining a grant strategy to maximize the impact of the funds.
• Identifying and mapping underserved and unserved households and assessing the root cause to augment FCC mapping activities.
• Identifying and removing barriers to successful, fast and economical network deployments.
• Developing grant applications that enable the state to gather the requisite information to assess the viability of the applicants’ plans.
• Evaluating applications in a comprehensive manner that allows the state to:  assess cost, schedule and technology risk; community impact; and ongoing operational viability.
• Implementing the required tools and processes for ongoing management of the grant program in compliance with the IIJA, NTIA’s implementation framework, state laws and other federal regulations.

[Greg Weiner is the managing director in Accenture Communications, Media & Technology. Ryan Oakes is the Accenture Public Service global managing director.]