Earlier this month the RUS (Rural Utility Service) announced a new broadband funding opportunity, a NOFA for Applications for Satellite, Rural Library Broadband, and Technical Assistance Projects.
John Schultz of U-reka Broadband attended the informational session held yesterday for more information and was kind enough to send his notes to me. John is involved with the (successfully ARRA-funded) Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group, he has worked Tribal communities and has several applications in the hopper for Round One. Perhaps his notes will help spur a few more applications from Minnesota…
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- Eligibility-Indian Tribes (regardless if they were successful in BIP applications), Round one BIP winners and Second Round BIP winners. Therefore Second Round BIP applicants will not know if they are successful they are taking a chance on these applications.
- $3 million budget for projects overall although RUS staff stated they might have additional funds available if good applications are submitted
- Project is up to $200,000 and 5% of it can be for pre-application expenses. Funds must be expended within 12 months of award
- Acceptable use of funds are:
- Development of Broadband Economic Development plans for un or underserved areas
- Feasibility Studies including
- Market Surveys and Analysis
- Planning Engineering
- Financial Proforma’s
- Competitive Landscape and perspective partnerships
- There will be no second round of these grants, if you are interested apply this round
- Deadline is currently June 7th, there may be a short extension.
- The application is not submitted through easy grants but instead are paper applications
- There is no matching requirement
- Dollars are not intended for actual equipment or infrastructure deployments
The technical assistance grants (TAG) eligibility requirements create a Catch 22. TAG funding is restricted to applicants who have already been awarded infrastructure funding in Round 1 or completed and submitted an infrastructure proposal in Round 2. Since these applicants have already developed an infrastructure proposal, they do not need TAG funding.
In a Feb. 6, 2010 letter, the Camino Fiber Network Cooperative requested BIP Administrator Jonathan Adelstein remove this requirement since it unfairly penalizes and ironically bars applicants from seeking the exact type of funding needed to allow them to develop USDA-approved regional plans to provide broadband service in critically unserved areas. We received no response to our letter.
Fred Pilot
President
Camino Fiber Network Cooperative
http://www.caminofiber.net/
Fred,
Thanks for that insight. I haven’t been following the new grant closely enough to see the conflict. It has been “interesting” to see the ARRA process unfold.
Thx! Ann
We discussed this opportunity at the Blandin MIRC kickoff. It’s certainly Catch-22, in a Ready-Fire-Aim sense. It looks to me that the TAG aspect may be looking at placing the successfully funded projects within a broader regional context.
That said, yes, it’s classic cart-before-the-horse federalism.
John,
I had forgotten about that discussion at the MIRC meetings. Thanks for the perspective coming out of that session.
Ann