NTIA Filling Positions as BEAD Preparation Outreach Is Underway

Open FPO positions in Virginia, Arkansas and Montana are nearly filled, Feinman said in an interview. Most states and territories have an FPO each. California has two FPOs. Other FPOs cover multiple states: one covers Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island; another covers both North Carolina and Delaware. Feinman said NTIA had considered two for Texas, but its Southwest regional director is in Texas and thus doing double duty. He said the same approach is being taken in New York, with one FPO and the Northeast regional director, who is a New Yorker, also delivering FPO service. "We did our best to balance the resources we had available with the need we saw in the world," he said. In most cases, the FPOs are based in the state or territory they're covering, Feinman said.

FPO duties will differ from state to state, often depending on how many resources the state has available for broadband programs, Feinman said. For states with lower program capacity, such as with small and/or relatively new broadband offices, the focus is on helping them build the capacity needed to implement a major grant program, such as hiring grant administrators, legal support and people who understand federal grants, he said.

FPO work also includes stakeholder engagement and delivering technical assistance like legal or programmatic analysis, Feinman said. When states start drafting their broadband plans later this year, FPOs will provide direct assistance, he said. One thing they won't do is be involved in scoring those state plans for the states they're assigned to, he said. Oversight of grants and sub-grants will also be a big part of FPO work, Feinman said. "We are going to be pretty tight; this is a lot of money," he said. He said BEAD has been working with the Office of the Inspector General about what it wants to see in audits.

Outreach Plaudits

NTIA's program officers have been "working diligently" with state broadband offices to ensure they can "meet the broadband needs in their respective states," Incompas President Angie Kronenberg said. The agency and state broadband offices have "been very helpful with other stakeholders on the ground including broadband service providers, community and public interest organizations, and anchor institutions." Kronenberg said. Incompas "supports what NTIA has accomplished in organizing and hosting the State Broadband Leaders Network, including coordinating events, information, and educational webinars for states and industry stakeholders about the various broadband programs."

"I don’t know of any federal agency that has been more active in meeting with states and providers than NTIA has been with the BEAD program," said Fiber Broadband Association CEO Gary Bolton. NTIA has "been extremely proactive in working with the states and providers," Bolton said, noting the agency sent regional representatives to each of FBA's regional workshops and its leadership has been regularly meeting with stakeholders.

Outreach from NTIA's FPO for Texas, Jennifer Harris, has been considerable and helpful, said Texas Cable Association President Walt Baum. "It's nice knowing who to reach out to," he said. He said the NTIA staff has also been working with the state's broadband office as the federal agency continues to develop grant program rules. He said so far TCA members' questions have involved timing issues.

The Michigan Cable TV Association told us the NTIA program officer for the state, Ben Fineman, has proactively been in regular contact with Executive Director Matt Groen and member companies. MCTA said the level of staffing and resources NTIA is making available seemed sufficient.

Vice President Kamala Harris touted both the $65 billion in broadband money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and NTIA’s Monday commitment of “more than $175 million” in funding from the $285 million Connecting Minority Communities pilot program “to expand high-speed Internet access and affordability at 61” historically Black colleges and universities and other “minority-serving institutions.” The $175 million was the latest tranche of money from the CMC program (see 2302270023), enacted as part of the FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus law, the White House said.

“Many of those that we focus on,” both in the CMC program and IIJA, “currently do not have reliable access to high-speed internet on campus,” Harris said during a speech at the historically Black Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. She said Benedict is getting $3 million of the $175 million tranche, and nearby Claflin University in Orangeburg will get “nearly $3 million.” The “investments” in broadband connectivity and affordability “will be transformative” because it will connect more people “with opportunity,” including “to get an education, to train for a new career, to build a business, and to see a doctor,” Harris said.