Oklahoma 'Holding Off' on BEAD Subgrant Selections Amid Proposed NTIA Changes
Oklahoma is "holding off" on its subgrant selection process for the BEAD and tribal broadband connectivity program following NTIA's rescoping of BEAD, the state's Broadband Office said during a governing board meeting Tuesday (see 2503060047). The office will soon release a second request for information (RFI) for network expansion territories as it awaits NTIA's next move concerning programmatic changes.
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"I do think when it's all said and done that there will be neutrality in the form of technology for BEAD" in the coming weeks or months, as well as added flexibility in the permitting process, said Oklahoma Broadband Office Executive Director Mike Sanders. He called the expected changes "a good thing."
"We're working hard" and "making sure that we deliver high-speed internet to the people of Oklahoma," Sanders said: "We will continue to do this until we are told differently." He noted that all grants funded by the American Rescue Plan Act's state and local fiscal recovery fund have been executed, and 63% of the projects are under construction. Nearly $51 million has been disbursed to sub-recipients to date. The agency's middle-mile broadband infrastructure program application is also expected to open Friday. NTIA awarded Oklahoma more than $797 million in BEAD funding and $14.5 million in middle-mile funding.
"It's been a very interesting few weeks," said Chief Strategic Officer Edyn Rolls. "We have our first in-person event this Friday" on the Capital Projects Fund, she said. "We have yet to see any funds disbursed" for the program, "but we are working toward that."
"It seems a bit silly to start the [BEAD subgrant] process when we, as an office, know that we will likely lose several thousand locations that will be considered ineligible now" because of the tribal connectivity program projects, Rolls said. "That will likely make some of our nets financially unviable in their current state, and so it is important that we reopen that."
Although some locations will be taken away from the second RFI and challenge process, Oklahoma expects to see some new locations added to its broadband availability map. "We are not starting over," Rolls emphasized, adding that this will begin Monday. It will be limited to just the locations that were "impacted by the tribal broadband connectivity program projects and the rescoping of those."
The Oklahoma Broadband Office's goal is to "launch our sub-recipient selection process on April 13," Rolls said. "We are crossing our fingers and our toes and everything in between," she said, "but we are a bit at this point up to NTIA's discretion on moving forward."