Drum roll please – the broadband stimulus NOFA is finally out. I finally saw it last night at 10 pm (4 pm Minnesota time). Here are my notes on the 121 page document – for what they’re worth. I’ve gone for a Reader’s Digest approach – just trying to make it easy to get an overview. I have actually written grants for the NTIA. They are arduous. If you plan to take on the challenge, I wish you luck. If you do I hope that you will consider your project valuable enough to deploy regardless of what funding decisions are made.

Here are some of the key definitions that we’ve been awaiting (line numbers correspond with the lines of the actual NOFA):

(line 384) Broadband means providing two-way data transmission with advertised speeds of at least 768 kilobits per second (kbps) downstream and at least 200 kbps upstream to end users, or providing sufficient capacity in a middle mile project to support the provision of broadband service to end users. (line 2284) Note: there’s not latency requirement. (line 2288) An area that has access to service at 768 kbps may still qualify as “underserved,” and an area that has only high-latency satellite service will still qualify as “unserved.” (line 2326) RUS and NTIA do not include existing satellite service in defining whether a given area is unserved, even though such service may meet the threshold speed level to qualify as broadband service under the definition adopted in this NOFA.

(line 4540 Remote area means an unserved, rural area 50 miles from the limits of a non-rural area.

(line 455) Rural area means any area, as confirmed by the latest decennial census of the Bureau of the Census, which is not located within: 1. a city, town, or incorporated area that has a population of greater than 20,000 inhabitants; or 2. an urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to a city or town that has a population of greater than 50,000 inhabitants. For purposes of the definition of rural area, an urbanized area means a densely populated territory as defined in the latest decennial census of the U.S. Census Bureau.

(line 472) Underserved area means a proposed funded service area, composed of one or more contiguous census blocks meeting certain criteria that measure the availability of broadband service and the level of advertised broadband speeds. These criteria conform to the two distinct components of the Broadband Infrastructure category of eligible projects—Last Mile and Middle Mile. Specifically, a proposed funded service area may qualify as underserved for last mile projects if at least one of the following factors is met, though the presumption will be that more than one factor is present: 1. no more than 50 percent of the households in the proposed funded service area have access to facilities-based, terrestrial broadband service at greater than the minimum broadband transmission speed (set forth in the definition of broadband above); 2. no fixed or mobile broadband service provider advertises broadband transmission speeds of at least three megabits per second (“mbps”) downstream in the proposed funded service area; or 3. the rate of broadband subscribership for the proposed funded service area is 40 percent of households or less. A proposed funded service area may qualify as underserved for Middle Mile projects if one interconnection point terminates in a proposed funded service area that qualifies as unserved or underserved for Last Mile projects. (Get more info line 2333)

(line 487) Unserved area means a proposed funded service area, composed of one or more contiguous census blocks, where at least 90 percent of households in the proposed funded service area lack access to facilities-based, terrestrial broadband service, either fixed or mobile, at the minimum broadband transmission speed (set forth in the definition of broadband above). A household has access to broadband service if the household can readily subscribe to that service upon request. (get more at line 2291)

On with the notes…

The deadline: August 14, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. ET – electronic or paper accepted but requests for more than $1 million must be electronic

It looks as if this will be a two-step process for both BTOP and BIP funds. There will be an initial screening for availability – then select applicants may be asked to provide more information for further review either by October 15, 2009 or 30 days after receiving notice.

(line 165) Applicants may apply for BTOP and/or BIP funds.

(line 176) They have allocated approximately $4 billion for this round of funding.

(line 181) BIP / RUS Funding

(line 186) Allocated for loans and grants. 75 percent of a funded area be in a rural area that lacks sufficient access to high speed broadband service to facilitate economic development.

(line 190) Grants under BIP are to be used to fund applications proposing to exclusively serve remote, unserved, rural areas. BIP loan and loan/grant combination funds are to be used to provide funding to applications proposing to serve non-remote and underserved rural areas. RUS will favor proposals that are mostly (or entirely) loans (versus grants).

(line 201) RUS will favor projects that can start promptly and demonstrate feasibility, capacity and compliance with priorities. Here are the RUS priorities:
a. give end users a choice of providers;
b. serve the highest proportion of rural residents that lack access to broadband service;
c. are projects of current or former RUS borrowers (Title II borrowers); and
d. are fully funded and ready to start once Recovery Act funding is received. BIP application scoring criteria awards projects that implement these priorities

BTOP / NTIA Funding

(line 230) Objectives/Priorities include:
a. To provide access to broadband service to consumers residing in unserved areas of the country;
b. To provide improved access to broadband service to consumers residing in underserved areas of the country;
c. To provide broadband access, education, awareness, training, equipment, and support
to community anchor institutions (e.g., schools, libraries, medical facilities), or organizations and agencies serving vulnerable populations (e.g., low-income, unemployed, aged), or job-creating strategic facilities located in state- or federally-designated economic development areas;
d. To improve access to, and use of, broadband service by public safety agencies; and
e. To stimulate the demand for broadband, economic growth, and job creation.

(line 271) They are also looking for programs that offer the potential for economic growth and job creation, and provide benefits to education, health care, and public safety.

(line 242) Special funds will go to:
$200 million for expanding public computer center capacity
$250 million to encourage adoption of broadband services
$350 million for a nationwide broadband map

(line 250) There are 3 categories of eligible projects
(1) Broadband Infrastructure for Last Mile and Middle Mile to go to un- and under-served
(2) Public Computer Centers – for community colleges and public libraries where the public can use computers
(3) Sustainable Broadband Adoption – to promote broadband demand

(line 315) The NTIA will check in with states to help determine un- and underserved areas. States are welcome to send a prioritized list of recommended projects.

(line 335) The review will take into consideration many factors, such as each state will receive at least one grant, an attempt will be made to avoid redundancy and conflicts with other federal grants. So, it makes sense to know what’s going on with you, your partners and your geographic area.

(line 494) Lists funding limits which vary depending on project and fund.

(line 556) Lists availability requirements – such as what type of org is eligible and that you need to complete the application for funds on time.

(line 614) Here they list technical requirements that are worth considering –such as projects must connect to the public Internet and cannot be closed networks and interconnection issues.(get more on interconnectedness at line 2449)

(line 661) Last mile projects are expected to cover an entire territory unless applicant receives a waiver.

(line 684) In regards to BIP funding – RUS will not fund more than one project to serve any given geographic area.

(line 709) In regards to BTOP – Awardees under BTOP will be required to provide matching funds of at least 20 percent of project – again a waiver is possible.

(line 734) Grant applicants must provide documentation that the project would not have been implemented during the grant period without federal grant assistance.

(line 746) Eligible costs has explained for each type of fund.

(line 843) get more info or ask questions

Contents of applications and details for specific funds make up the next major portion of the document. If you’re thinking about writing an application, this is the real instructions. You’ll want to follow those to a T, using the info they have provided earlier.

(line 1298) Evaluation Criteria. The scoring criteria used to review and analyze BIP and BTOP applications are grouped into four categories:
1. Project Purpose;
2. Project Benefits;
3. Project Viability; and
4. Project Budget and Sustainability.

The points are specified in the document for both programs. (I have to say I think they’d done a good job laying this out and being specific.)

(line 1639) Admin Requirements are outlined for BIP
(line 1720) Admin Requirements are outlined for BTOP
(line 1794) Reporting Requirements

(line 2467) RUS and NTIA require applicants to commit to five obligations:
(1) Adhere to the principles contained in the FCC’s Broadband Policy Statement (FCC 05-151adopted Aug. 5, 2005).
(2) (2) Not favor any lawful Internet applications or content over others.
(3) Display network management policies in a prominent location on the service provider’s web page and provide notice to customers of changes to these policies (awardees must describe any business practices or technical mechanisms they employ, other than standard best efforts Internet delivery, to allocate capacity; differentiate among applications, providers, or sources; limit usage; and manage or block access to illegal or harmful content).
(4) Connect to the public Internet directly or indirectly, such that the project is not an entirely private closed network.
(5) Offer interconnection, where technically-feasible, on reasonable rates and terms to be negotiated with requesting parties. This includes both the ability to connect to the public Internet and physical interconnection for the exchange of traffic.