State Broadband Grant Programs: The Challenge Process

The Pew Charitable Trusts provides information on the “challenge processes” in state broadband grant programs, with key features from a variety of states. Summary points include:

• Challenge processes can be an important control to prevent public subsidies from being awarded to areas that are already receiving equivalent service or will receive equivalent service within a set period (e.g., 12 months). The challenge process can also help prevent a project from receiving duplicative state, local, and/or federal funding.
• States can require providers to participate in the state’s data collection and mapping efforts in order to engage in the challenge process.
• The documentation required for a valid challenge varies among states, and can include shape files, address-level service information, service speed validation, and a signed affidavit attesting to the service. If allowed by state code, the data collected in the challenge process may be used by the state to update its maps.
• Notably, the challenge process can also refer to objections and evidence submitted by residents and communities to challenge the designated eligibility of a given area as it relates to the grant program’s guidelines and/or the area’s designation on a state’s broadband availability map.

[Jake Varn is Principal Associate at the Broadband Access Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts. Analysis dated November 4, 2021.]