I’m borrowing from the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society’s recap of the NTIA’s notice of action on reopening the Digital Equity Competitive Grants...

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) published a public notice on August 25 seeking public comment on the application forms it will use for a revived Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program, the first public confirmation that work on the program’s relaunch is underway. The notice opens a 60-day comment period under the Paperwork Reduction Act, with comments due October 26, 2026, and is a revision of an existing clearance (OMB Control Number 0660–0055) rather than a new one. NTIA estimates 800 applicants will respond, each spending roughly 18 hours on an application. Eligible applicants track the statute: state political subdivisions and instrumentalities, Indian Tribes, Alaska Native entities and Native Hawaiian organizations, nonprofits that are not schools, community anchor institutions, local educational agencies, workforce development entities, and partnerships among them. The step follows a July 15 federal court ruling that the Digital Equity Act’s racial-minority “covered population” provision is unconstitutional but severable, after which the Department of Commerce told the court it would reinstate the program without that provision and target a December 2026 opening. Notably, the notice’s description of the program makes no mention of the statute’s covered populations, the severed provision, or the litigation. The comment deadline also leaves little room in the calendar: a second 30-day notice and OMB review would ordinarily follow, putting final clearance at early December at the earliest.