The Challenges for Broadband Grant Offices

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People might wonder why so many people are needed to implement the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. I think that being in charge of a state broadband grant office has to be one of the toughest gigs in the country right now. The main purpose of this blog is to give folks an idea of the huge challenges facing each state broadband office over the next few years. One of the first things each state will have to do is to develop a detailed broadband plan that describes how the BEAD grant program will work. The BEAD grant rules are complex. States somehow need to understand all of these subtleties and cobble together a state broadband grant plan that meets all of the requirements. Then, one of the biggest challenges of reviewing and choosing grant winners is that there are so many different uses for the funds – broadband last mile, anchor institutions, low-income apartments and neighborhoods, and various digital divide uses. States will somehow have to decide how to judge and balance grant awards between these various areas. After awarding grants, the state broadband office will become the agency that will pay out grant funds. Grant funds are dispersed based upon real invoices, and a grant office will have to make the big pivot from reviewing grants to administering the funds and deciding if the submitted invoices match the intentions of an awarded grant.  All of this workload comes with a shot clock ticking at all times and pre-determined deadlines that must be met. It’s hard to imagine that working in a state broadband office will be anything short of chaotic for the next four or five years.

[Doug Dawson is president of CCG Consulting.]


The Challenges for Broadband Grant Offices