Broadband Program Coordination With NTIA and Ag Dept. Is Working but Needs Tweaks: FCC

coordinating ways to standardize broadband data. It also said they should make the coordination efforts more transparent. It said the three began regular and ad hoc meetings in spring 2020, in anticipation of the legislation, and those meetings about their various broadband funding programs have continued through the present. It said coordination efforts also expanded to include other agencies. At the same time, the agencies have run into challenges when trying to tackle potential program duplication, it said. Those challenges include the programs' distinct features and constraints, such as different speed performance thresholds and timelines, it said. Another complication is that the agencies have different standards for treating an area as served, and thus ineligible to seek funding in their programs, with some using an actual-deployment standard while others treat an area as served if there is a binding commitment with defined construction obligations. The FCC recommended the agencies look at revising the interagency agreement to create a minimum period of time for agencies to review proposed funding before the funding agency makes final commitments.