States Eager for Start of BEAD Challenge Processes

Challenges are rolling into some states charged with distributing billions from NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, officials said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday. Several officials said their states will be ready to start processes to dispute unserved or underserved locations as soon as NTIA approves volume one of their BEAD proposals. "A successful challenge process underpins the credibility of any state's entire BEAD program,” Kansas Office of Broadband Development Director Jade Piros de Carvalho said.

Kansas received nearly 2,000 challenges, comprising about 277,000 locations in its initial 30-day challenge window, which ended Jan. 14, Piros de Carvalho said: A 14-day rebuttal window began Jan. 26 and will end Feb. 9. One ISP used the challenge process like a big FCC broadband data collection filing, submitting challenges for 234,000 (84%) of the locations, she said. The most common reason for a challenge was “planned or existing build,” the Kansas official said. The state broadband office accepted 91.1% of challenged locations, with the most common reason for rejection being that the challenged didn’t provide location-specific evidence. Those who challenged sooner in the window had time to submit more evidence, but many providers submitted late and didn’t get that chance, said Piros de Carvalho: The office received five times more challenges during the challenge window's final 24 to 36 hours than in all the previous days. Few nonprofits or local governments participated, she noted.

Halfway through its initial challenge window, Delaware has received fewer than 100 challenges from ISPs, said Roddy Flynn, the state broadband office’s executive director. Like Kansas, few nonprofits have challenged, said Flynn: Most challenges came from national nonprofit EducationSuperHighway. The Delaware official urged early submissions if ISPs want a chance to resubmit. "We're on a real tight staff bandwidth with this program."

Expecting volume 1 approval “any day now,” Indiana plans opening challenges March 4, said Lela Sibley, the state broadband office’s communications manager. The state held many meetings with ISPs, nonprofits and local governments about the timeline and importance of challenging, she said. "This is a confusing process ...[so] we're trying to make sure we get a lot of answers to the people as soon as possible."

Other states also await NTIA's green light before they can accept challenges. For example, Georgia Broadband Director Jessica Simmons said her state's challenge portal is ready. In addition, Georgia published a guide to the process.

Similarly, Michigan is "waiting with bated breath" for NTIA's approval of volume 1, said Erick Frederick, that state's broadband director. Frederick is unsure how many challenges Michigan will receive. “Somewhere between three and 300,000.” California Public Utilities Commission Communications Division Director Rob Osborn said NTIA is reviewing his state’s plans. Meanwhile, Texas is correcting its volume 1 based on NTIA feedback, the state’s Broadband Development Office Director Gregory Conte said.

“It feels like we’re close to getting” NTIA approval, said North Dakota Broadband Program Director Brian Newby. “It’s more [a] frustration that they keep asking us a different question every other day than it is that we don’t have approval yet.”