**GAO-10-192T**                      Published: Oct 27, 2009. Publicly Released: Oct 27, 2009.                  

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## Highlights

Access to broadband service is seen as vital to economic, social, and educational development, yet many areas of the country lack access to, or their residents do not use, broadband. To expand broadband deployment and adoption, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Recovery Act) provided $7.2 billion to the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for grants or loans to a variety of program applicants. The agencies must award all funds by September 30, 2010. This testimony provides preliminary information on the challenges NTIA and RUS face; the steps taken to address challenges; and the remaining risks in (1) evaluating applications and awarding funds and (2) overseeing funded projects. This statement is based on related ongoing work that GAO expects to complete in November. To conduct this work, GAO is reviewing relevant laws and program documents and interviewing agency officials and industry stakeholders. While this testimony does not include recommendations, GAO expects to make recommendations in its November report.

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## Topics

Telecommunications

AccountabilityAwardsBroadbandEligibility criteriaEligibility determinationsEvaluationFederal fundsFinancial applicationsGrant monitoringGrantsInternal controlsLessons learnedLoansMonitoringPerformance measuresProgram evaluationReporting requirementsRequirements definitionRisk assessmentRisk factorsRisk managementTelecommunicationsProgram implementation