NTIA Seeks 40 New Jobs for Broadband Grant Program, Budget Shows
NTIA is seeking 70 full-time jobs in its FY 2010 budget request, up from an estimated 30 in FY 2009, to carry out the broadband stimulus program, according to documents released Thursday by the Obama administration. The budget request says the agency will make awards under its $4.7 billion stimulus program “as expeditiously as practicable, with initial awards planned for 2009 and all awards being made not later than the end of 2010,” said the Office of Management and Budget.
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Grant details are to be released in June, OMB said, consistent with statements administration officials have made. Each state must receive at least one award, and entities that get grants have two years to complete projects.
The administration is seeking $335.8 million for the FCC, with $3 million set aside to administer a state broadband matching grant program and creation of geographic inventory maps of broadband service. The request provides for the transfer of up to $25.5 million from the Universal Service Fund to monitor the program for waste, fraud and abuse. Figures on the USF program estimate the fund will collect about $8.5 billion in FY 2010, about the same as the previous fiscal year but higher than the $8.4 billion in FY 2008.
The administration promised strengthened USF oversight “to minimize the burden to ratepayers,” said the budget request. The government will pursue “means to strengthen” program management, budget documents said.
To promote efficient use of spectrum, the administration plans to provide the FCC with new authority to use other economic mechanisms, such as fees, as a spectrum management tool. The commission would be allowed to set user fees on unauctioned spectrum licenses based on spectrum-management principles. The fees would be phased in over time, with collections to begin in 2009 and total $4.8 billion through 2019
The administration also plans to propose legislation to ensure that licenses for predominately domestic satellite services are assigned efficiently through competitive bidding. Auction receipts are estimated to bring in $200 million through 2019. In addition, the administration said it proposed to “indefinitely” extend the FCC’s authority to auction spectrum licenses. Existing authority expires Sept. 30, 2012. Additional receipts from a permanent extension are estimated to total $1.4 billion through 2019.