NTIA Seen Facing Heavy Lift With Its 90-Day BEAD Deadline

The Commerce Department's "Benefit of the Bargain" version of BEAD, announced in June (see 2506060052), set a challenging timeline for states -- with last week's deadline for revising their BEAD-eligible locations list, holding a new application round, choosing winning providers and submitting their final proposals -- and a similar 90-day deadline for NTIA to review each state's final proposal.

NTIA said Friday that 36 of 56 states and territories had made Thursday's deadline, with the other 20 eligible entities given extensions. “After years of delay, the Trump Administration has made monumental progress in moving the BEAD program forward,” NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth said. “We are eager to review these plans so that we can deliver on ... approving deployment projects by the end of the year and immediately begin connecting Americans across the country.”

Meeting the Dec. 3 deadline for reviews for states that didn't seek an extension "will be a tight timeline," said Kathryn de Wit, Pew Charitable Trust's broadband access initiative director, in an emailed statement. She said that along with NTIA staff and leadership evaluating unique proposals from the 56 states and territories, the National Institute of Standards and Technology will need to sign off on each plan to ensure it complies with BEAD's technical and financial requirements. States won't get their BEAD funding until those steps are complete, she noted.

Federal policymakers should support state broadband offices "by encouraging NTIA to swiftly review and approve these plans," de Wit said. Meanwhile, NTIA "should grant maximum flexibility," as long as the plans meet statutory and other program requirements. "The submission of every state['s] BEAD final proposal marks a major milestone, but it’s far from the finish line," she said. "To help states and territories cross that line, dedicated support from Congress, NTIA, state leaders, and providers will be critical."

Consultant Carol Mattey told us that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has publicly committed to processing in 90 days and is likely to keep that promise. She said the draft final proposals have already been vetted by NTIA staff, but Lutnick probably hasn't focused on particular details. He "may push back on some of the higher dollar/location fiber awards that we see in some states," urging those states to shift more to satellite broadband.

"Even with the more complex final proposals we were reviewing under the old rules, we got the first three done in about 11 days each," said Evan Feinman, head of the BEAD program under the Biden administration. "I’d anticipate most get approved swiftly."

Jade Piros de Carvalho of Per Aspera Advisors emailed us that Lutnick will probably need to clearly see the cumulative results of the Benefit of the Bargain round before approvals come. "He will likely want to know that he saved X amount before allowing sign off on state plans," she said. "If the states collectively come in at $10B below budget, for instance, it's easier to rubber stamp plans than if there was only a few billion dollars in savings." She said this round might get a higher level of scrutiny if it "didn't meet some arbitrary number he's grasping for."

While NTIA declined to comment on the extensions, some states have publicly announced their new deadlines. Texas, which received $3.3 billion in BEAD funding, was granted the longest extension, until Oct. 27. Michigan has until Thursday to submit its revised final BEAD plan; Oregon until Sept. 18; Idaho until Sept. 25, Illinois until Sept. 30 and California until Oct. 2.

Carriers weren’t asked, for the most part, and didn’t comment on the outlook for their participation in the BEAD program at the Citi and Bank of America financial conferences last week. The exception was Jenifer Robertson, AT&T's general manager of mass markets, who spoke Thursday at the Citi conference. “We continue to participate” in BEAD “where it makes sense,” she said. “As long as … bids are economical for us and provide the right returns, we are certainly supportive and continue to participate.”