Commerce OIG to Publicly Criticize NTIA on Tribal Broadband Spending Implementation
The Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General plans to publish a “management alert” about NTIA’s “reliance on tribes’ self-certifications of their broadband status to determine their eligibility for grants under the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program,” Assistant IG-Audit and Evaluation Arthur Scott said in a Monday memo to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson we obtained Tuesday night. OIG plans to release the alert Wednesday, officials said. TBCP is one of several federal broadband programs congressional Republicans have focused on since December as part of ramped-up scrutiny of the government’s connectivity spending.
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The OIG alert follows its audit of NTIA’s TBCP implementation that found the agency “did not consistently identify possible duplicated funding for 88 TBCP broadband infrastructure awards, totaling $1.6 billion,” Scott told Davidson. “NTIA instead allowed tribes to self-certify that they were not currently served by a broadband provider and did not have an enforceable commitment from a provider to build out broadband service on their lands. As a result, some TBCP grant recipients may have received funding they were not eligible for, and NTIA may have reduced the amount of available funding for TBCP applicants who need it.”
The accompanying alert proposes NTIA “independently validate past” TBCP “awards to confirm whether applicants’ proposed broadband service areas were unserved or whether funding of other federal programs was duplicated.” If “applicants do not meet the requirements for awarded grants, NTIA should recover the funds and flag the applications as ineligible,” OIG said. The office also recommends NTIA “develop and implement formal policy and procedures for independently validating self-certifications to determine eligibility for future broadband grant program awards.”
OIG plans “to issue a report” on the audit “in early 2024 and will continue to monitor NTIA’s progress in implementing our proposed actions for change.” OIG “discussed our plans to issue” the alert with NTIA May 25 and “are not requesting a formal response” from the agency because the office hasn’t issued formal recommendations, Scott said. NTIA didn’t immediately comment.
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., called for the Commerce Committee to hold an “oversight hearing to hold NTIA accountable” in response to OIG’s concerns. The findings “reveal that once again NTIA has not adopted measures to ensure broadband funding is going to truly unserved areas, which could lead to wasteful spending to the tune of more than $1 billion,” he said in a statement to us. “This is particularly concerning given that NTIA is also responsible for managing” the $42.5 billion broadband, equity, access and deployment program. Thune urged Davidson in January to pause TBCP outlays until NTIA addresses GAO’s call for the agency to institute better performance goals and measures for the program that could more effectively prevent fraud.