Wash. Broadband Office Seeks Input on BEAD Project Areas

Defining project areas “is not for the faint of heart,” Washington State Broadband Office Director Mark Vasconi said. The office met virtually Thursday to start considering various ways to define them for NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. “We have not made any decisions around what the form of project areas are going to look like,” said Vasconi. The state faces a “compressed time frame,” he noted. BEAD “has been characterized as a marathon, but I will tell you it’s a marathon with … timed sprints in the process.” The office probably will release a draft of volume two of Washington’s initial proposal in early November and seek comments for 30 days, he said. NTIA Federal Program Officer Tracey Blackburn said project areas are one aspect of BEAD planning that’s critical to get right. “This is a really hard one,” she said. “There are many different ways to think about doing this and there's no one right answer.”