Controversial Colorado BTOP Grantee Reactivated
The federal government ended its partial suspension of the $100.6-million broadband stimulus grant to the EAGLE-Net Alliance, said Anthony Wilhelm, head of NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. NTIA suspended the Colorado infrastructure grantee in December due to problems with its environmental review process (CD Dec 10 p6). EAGLE-Net, focused on connecting Colorado schools with advanced bandwidth, was scheduled to have its grant sunset this fall. The project was subject to a heated U.S. House oversight hearing in February.
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"NTIA is lifting EAGLE-Net’s suspension, which will allow the organization to take advantage of the spring construction season and focus on helping western Colorado school districts get access to high capacity broadband,” Wilhelm told us during a media call. “NTIA has been working closely with EAGLE-Net over the past few months to address the environmental requirements needed to get the project back on track, and it has met those requirements. We'll continue to vigorously oversee the project to protect taxpayers’ investment.”
But the project will require more time and money than allotted, said an NTIA official on a call with reporters and on the condition the person not be named. NTIA has been very engaged with the project during its suspension and visited Colorado five times in 2013, a presence invited by both U.S. senators from Colorado, the official said. As the suspension lifts, EAGLE-Net has presented a plan that involves connecting 29 additional school districts this season, many in the western part of the state and including the Buena Vista district and the mountain town of Silverton, the source said. Bandwidth is especially needed out in that western half, the official said, also referring to the many E-Rate contracts the grantee recently won. EAGLE-Net received E-Rate commitments from nearly 60 institutions in the 2013 application window, it said in its April newsletter (http://conta.cc/101dY21). The project initially anticipated certain matching funds that didn’t come through, and now requires an additional $10 million to $15 million in private money to complete the network, according to some estimates, which will be acquired through a solicitation process, the NTIA official said. EAGLE-Net will continue to face NTIA oversight and file its quarterly BTOP reports as it operates past 2013 and into 2014, if it successfully applies for a time extension, the official said. The suspension’s end took effect Tuesday, and the official said there should be 100 school districts connected out of 178 in Colorado total by the end of this current season.
The news doesn’t reassure everyone. Earlier this year, Buena Vista School District Technology Coordinator Matt Brooker feared the suspension would prevent EAGLE-Net from serving his classrooms by the time he contracted for of this summer. The prospect of double billing from two providers has scared him, and his fears remain despite the recent news of prioritizing Buena Vista, he told us now. He doesn’t think EAGLE-Net will reach the district until August or September, and his current provider’s contract has been set to end in mid-summer, he said. That provider’s contract doesn’t appear to penalize early termination, which he currently sees as his escape, he said.
"The suspension should not have been lifted until all of the problems and issues of government competition had been worked out,” said U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., a critic of the project. “We're still waiting on an overdue state review of EAGLE-Net’s operations, and federally we are preparing to ask the Inspector General’s office to conduct its own audit of EAGLE-Net’s finances and sustainability. Until we have a full accounting of how the taxpayers’ money was spent and how it will be managed moving forward, it is irresponsible to let this project continue with business as usual.” Gardner had pushed for the House hearing earlier this year.
The grantee has faced much scrutiny since the summer as it faced allegations of overbuilding in territory already served by private companies -- which the company contests -- and on lack of outreach and irresponsible spending (CD Feb 27 p7). But EAGLE-Net has, under its new leadership of recent months, reached out in productive ways, including to the Colorado Telecom Association of rural telcos that once critiqued it, said an NTIA official. CTA had no comment, said Executive Vice President Pete Kirchhof. NTIA took a close look at EAGLE-Net’s expenses and financial controls and believes they're reasonable, the agency official said, noting that NTIA conducts audits as part of BTOP program overall. EAGLE-Net did not comment.