3820 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 14 / Friday, January 22, 2010 / Notices 

200See, e.g., Merit Networks at 9 (suggesting a 

balancing test when applying the 

nondiscrimination and interconnection 

requirements). 

201See, e.g., Org. for the Promotion & 

Advancement of Small Telecomms. Companies at 

7–8; Indep. Tel. and Telecomms. Alliance at 10. 

202See, e.g., ADTRAN at 4–5; Telecomms. Indus. 

Ass’n at 18; Indep. Tel. and Telecomms. Alliance 

at 10; Open Range Commc’ns at 10–11; U.S. 

Telecom at 32. 

203See, e.g., ADTRAN at 2; Telecomms. Indus. 

Ass’n at 18; U.S. Telecom at 31–33. 

204See, e.g., Indep. Tel. and Telecomms. Alliance 

at 10; Open Range Commc’ns at 10–11; ADTRAN 

at 4–5. 

205See, e.g., ADTRAN at 4–5. 

206See, e.g., AT&T at 17–18; State of S.D. at 1; 

AzulStar at 4. 

207See, e.g., AT&T at 17–18. 

208See, e.g., State of S.D. at 1; AzulStar at 4. 

209See, e.g., AT&T at 18. 

210See, e.g., Stratum Broadband at 24; Alaska 

Commc’ns Sys. at 7–8; AT&T at 18–19; U.S. 

Telecom at 33–34; CONXX at 16. 

211 Id. 

212See 74 FR at 58944. 

213See, e.g., KeyOn Commc’ns at 3; Commc’ns 

Finance Ass’n at 1. 

214See 74 FR at 58944. 

215See, e.g., Cricket Commc’ns at 12; Stratum 

Broadband at 12; Flow Mobile at 15. 

216Eng’g Ass’n, Inc. at 4; E. Shore of Va. 

Broadband Auth. at 5; Canby Telecom at 1; MidRivers Commc’ns at 10. 

217See, e.g., KeyOn Commc’ns at 3; E. Shore of 

Va. Broadband Auth. at 5; Native Broadband 

Satellite at 8; Alaska Commc’ns Sys. at 8; Cricket 

Commc’ns at 12; Cal. Broadband Coop. at 5. 

218See, e.g., Rural Broadband Now at 9. 

219See, e.g., U.S. Telecom at 37–38. 

220See, e.g., Dixie Tech. Funding Agency at 15. 

221See, e.g., Monte R Lee & Co. at 8. 

222See, e.g., Senior Broadband/Internet Adoption 

Collaborative at 10. 

223See, e.g., Internet2 at 26–27. 

224See, e.g., TransWorld Network at 5. 

interconnection requirements.200 In 

opposition, some commenters request that 

the requirements be applied to every 

applicant, regardless of the nature of the 

entity.201

Commenters express concern that NTIA’s 

requirements would not mirror the rules that 

are ultimately adopted in the Federal 

Communications Commission’s (FCC) 

ongoing rulemaking proceeding regarding a 

Free and Open Internet.202 These 

commenters argue that if the requirements 

applicable to BTOP applicants are 

inconsistent with those faced by other service 

providers, then these additional 

nondiscrimination obligations will prove 

burdensome or duplicative for broadband 

service providers receiving grant funds.203

Commenters suggest that NTIA declare a 

sunset date for these requirements either 

when the FCC finalizes its network neutrality 

rules or at another reasonably foreseeable 

date.204 Commenters also recommend that 

NTIA declare that compliance with the FCC 

rules would be sufficient to meet the 

requirements of BTOP.205

A few commenters oppose the First 

NOFA’s nondiscrimination and 

interconnection requirements altogether.206

These commenters argue that the scope of 

these requirements chilled participation in 

the Program during the initial round of 

funding 207 and that the requirements 

conflicted with a private company’s ability to 

manage its own network.208 Commenters also 

argue that the current approach to the 

requirements would pose an oversight 

problem for NTIA and RUS and recommend 

that compliance be left up to the grant 

recipients.209

A few commenters also recommend that 

NTIA clarify its interconnection 

requirements in order to minimize cost and 

controversy.210 These commenters are 

especially concerned that the interconnection 

and nondiscrimination rules during the 

initial round of funding were unclear as 

applied to contractors or subcontractors.211

NTIA agrees with commenters that support 

maintaining the consistency of the 

interconnection and nondiscrimination 

requirements across the two rounds of 

funding. Leaving the requirements 

unchanged from the initial round of funding 

will help to facilitate the administration of 

the grants awarded during the first and 

second rounds and avoid imposing differing 

nondiscrimination and interconnection 

standards on recipients. Accordingly, NTIA 

has decided against making any significant 

revisions to this section. Any changes made 

to this section from the First NOFA are 

intended only to clarify and not change the 

applicants’ obligations. 

Sale of Project Assets 

Section IX.C.2 of the NOFA generally 

prohibits the sale or lease of award-funded 

broadband facilities, unless the sale or lease 

meets certain conditions. Specifically, the 

agencies may approve a sale or lease if it is 

for adequate consideration, the purchaser 

agrees to fulfill the terms and conditions 

relating to the project, and either the 

applicant includes the proposed sale or lease 

in its application as part of its original 

request for grant funds or the agencies waive 

this provision for any sale or lease occurring 

after the tenth year from the date the grant, 

loan, or loan/grant award is issued.212 Some 

stakeholders have suggested that this ‘‘tenyear holding rule’’ is overly restrictive and is 

a barrier to participation in BIP and BTOP.213

The agencies invited public comment on 

whether and how this section should be 

revised to adopt a more flexible approach 

toward awardee mergers, consistent with 

USDA and DOC regulations, while still 

ensuring that awardees are not receiving 

excessive profit from the sale of awardfunded assets.214

The clear majority of forty-seven parties 

who filed comments on the NOFA’s 

conditions on the post-award sale or lease of 

project assets support a relaxation of these 

conditions.215 Only a few commenters 

support retention of the rules.216 Most 

commenters agree that the prohibitions on 

the sale or lease of project facilities are 

unreasonably broad because they fail to 

provide flexibility for the government to 

consent to a reasonable lease or sale during 

the first ten years. One commenter voices a 

concern shared by many that the conditions 

restricting post-award sales or leases may 

inhibit obtaining funding for the project, 

explaining that ‘‘the 10-year prohibition on 

the sale of the funded assets also seems to 

cause a ‘chilling effect’ in terms of capital 

raising by applicants and may have caused 

many potential broadband providers to avoid 

BIP/BTOP entirely.’’ 217

Commenters supporting greater flexibility 

regarding the sale of assets recommend the 

following revisions: The second NOFA 

should allow the government to approve the 

sale or lease of project assets on a case-bycase basis; 218 the agencies should remove the 

10-year limit and focus on unjust 

enrichment; 219 clarify that the project assets 

mean only those assets which are purchased 

directly from grant funds awarded and not 

* * * equipment or services purchased 

* * * with ‘‘matching funds;’’ 220 relax rules 

so that the agencies may approve sales, ‘‘as 

long as the successor agrees to the obligations 

of the program;’’ 221 allow for accelerated 

depreciation of assets; 222 restrictions should 

not apply to IRUs or leases to research and 

education networks; 223 and modify the 

policy to accommodate the sale or lease to 

accommodate the normal five-year 

replacement cycle of broadband 

equipment.224

NTIA agrees with the majority of 

commenters proposing to relax restrictions 

on the post-award sale or lease of project 

assets and revises this section accordingly. 

As a result, awardees may petition for a 

waiver authorizing the sale or lease of assets 

at any time during the life of the awardfunded facilities and shall include 

supporting documentation and justification 

regarding why the petition should be granted. 

Dated: January 15, 2010. 

Lawrence E. Strickling, 

Assistant Secretary for Communications and 

Information. 

[FR Doc. 2010–1097 Filed 1–19–10; 11:15 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–60–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Rural Utilities Service 

RIN 0572–ZA01 

Broadband Initiatives Program 

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, 

Department of Agriculture. 

ACTION: Notice of Funds Availability 

(NOFA) and solicitation of applications. 

SUMMARY: The Rural Utilities Service 

(RUS) announces its general policy and 

application procedures for the second 

round of funding under the broadband 

initiatives (the Second Round NOFA) 

established pursuant to the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 

(Recovery Act) for the Broadband 

Initiatives Program (BIP) which 

provides loans, grants, and loan/grant 

combinations to facilitate broadband 

deployment in rural areas. In facilitating 

the expansion of broadband 


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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 14 / Friday, January 22, 2010 / Notices 3821 

1American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 

2009, Public Law 111–5, 123 Stat. 115 (2009). 

2President Obama, Statement on Signing the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 

(Feb. 17, 2009). 

3Recovery Act sec. 3(a), 123 Stat. at 115–16. 

4See id. § 3(b), 123 Stat. at 116. 

communications services and 

infrastructure, BIP will advance the 

objectives of the Recovery Act by 

spurring job creation and the economy 

and by building technological 

infrastructure that will fuel long-term 

economic growth and opportunity. 

DATES: Applications will be accepted for 

Last Mile and Middle Mile projects from 

February 16, 2010 at 8 a.m. Eastern 

Time (ET) until March 15, 2010 at 5 

p.m. ET. The application window for 

Satellite, Technical Assistance, and 

Rural Library Broadband Projects will 

be announced in a separate request for 

proposal in the Federal Register. 

Application Submission: The 

application packages for electronic 

submissions will be available at http:// 

www.broadbandusa.gov. 

Electronic submissions: Electronic 

submissions of applications will allow 

for the expeditious review of an 

Applicant’s proposal, consistent with 

the goals of the Recovery Act. As a 

result, all Applicants for Last Mile, 

Middle Mile, and Satellite projects must 

file their application electronically. 

Electronic applications for Last Mile 

and Middle Mile projects must be 

submitted by 5 p.m. ET on March 15, 

2010. The government electronic 

application system will provide a date 

and time stamped confirmation number 

that will serve as proof of submission. 

Only applications for Technical 

Assistance and Rural Library Broadband 

grants will be submitted in paper form. 

Paper applications for Technical 

Assistance and Rural Library Broadband 

grants will be available at http:// 

www.broadbandusa.gov once the 

request for proposals has been 

published. Applicants filing paper 

copies should submit one original and 

one copy of the application for efficient 

processing. 

Proof of Mailing. Paper applications 

for Technical Assistance and Rural 

Library Broadband grants must include 

proof of mailing consisting of one of the 

following: (i) A legibly dated U.S. Postal 

Service postmark. Please note that the 

U.S. Postal Service does not uniformly 

provide a dated postmark. Before 

relying on this method, Applicants 

should check with their local post 

office; (ii) a legible mail receipt with the 

date of mailing stamped by the U.S. 

Postal Service; or (iii) a dated shipping 

label, invoice, or receipt from a 

commercial carrier. Neither of the 

following will be accepted as proof of 

mailing: a private metered postmark; 

nor a mail receipt that is not dated by 

the U.S. Postal Service. 

Mailing Address. Completed 

applications must be mailed, shipped, 

or sent overnight express to: Broadband 

Initiatives Program, Rural Utilities 

Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Stop 

1599, Room 2868, Washington, DC 

20250. 

Or hand-delivered to: Broadband 

Initiatives Program Rural Utilities 

Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 

2868 Washington, DC 20250. 

Contact Information: For general 

inquiries, contact David J. Villano, 

Assistant Administrator 

Telecommunications Program, Rural 

Utilities Service, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA), e-mail: 

BroadbandUSA@usda.gov, 

telephone:(877) 508–8364. For inquiries 

regarding BIP compliance requirements, 

including applicable Federal rules and 

regulations protecting against fraud, 

waste and abuse, contact 

bipcompliance@wdc.usda.gov. You may 

obtain additional information regarding 

applications for BIP via the Internet at 

http://www.broadbandusa.gov. 

Authority: This notice is issued pursuant 

to the American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009, Public Law 111–5, 123 Stat. 115 

(2009) and the Rural Electrification Act of 

1936, 7 U.S.C. 901 et seq. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance (CFDA) Number: Broadband 

Initiatives Program (BIP)—10.787. 

Additional Items in Supplementary 

Information 

I. Overview: Describes the purposes of the 

Recovery Act and the changes in BIP from 

the First Round NOFA. 

II. Definitions: Sets forth the key statutory 

terms and other terms. 

III. Funding Opportunity Description: 

Describes funding categories, requirements, 

and the amount of funds available for each 

category. 

IV. Eligibility Information: Establishes 

eligibility criteria, eligibility factors, eligible 

and ineligible costs, and other eligibility 

requirements. 

V. Application and Submission 

Information: Provides information regarding 

how to apply, application materials, and the 

application process. 

VI. Application Evaluation Criteria: 

Establishes the evaluation criteria for 

application review. 

VII. Waiver for Grants Capped at (75%) of 

Award for Last Mile and Middle Mile 

Projects: Establishes waiver procedures for 

larger grant component. 

VIII. Award Administration Information: 

Provides award notice information, 

administrative and national policy 

requirements, terms and conditions, and 

other reporting requirements for award 

recipients. 

IX. Other Information: Sets forth guidance 

on funding, compliance with various laws, 

confidentiality, discretionary awards, and 

authorized signatures. 

I. Overview 

A. Background 

On February 17, 2009, President 

Obama signed the American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery 

Act) into law.1 The essential goal of the 

Recovery Act is to provide a ‘‘direct 

fiscal boost to help lift our Nation from 

the greatest economic crisis in our 

lifetimes and lay the foundation for 

future growth.’’ 2 Accordingly, the 

Recovery Act identifies five overall 

purposes: (1) To preserve and create 

jobs and promote economic recovery; (2) 

to assist those most impacted by the 

recession; (3) to provide investments 

needed to increase economic efficiency 

by spurring technological advances in 

science and health; (4) to invest in 

transportation, environmental 

protection, and other infrastructure that 

will provide long-term economic 

benefits; and (5) to stabilize state and 

local government budgets.3 The 

Recovery Act further instructs the 

President and the heads of Federal 

departments and agencies to manage 

and expend Recovery Act funds to 

achieve these five purposes, 

‘‘commencing expenditures and 

activities as quickly as possible 

consistent with prudent management.’’ 4

Consistent with the purposes 

described above, the Recovery Act 

provided RUS with $2.5 billion to 

expand access to broadband services in 

rural America. The Recovery Act 

expanded RUS’ existing authority to 

make loans and provided new authority 

to make grants for the purpose of 

facilitating broadband deployment in 

rural communities. The Recovery Act 

specifically made Federal assistance 

available for grants and loans to 

enhance service in areas which are at 

least 75 percent rural and ‘‘without 

sufficient access to high speed 

broadband service to facilitate rural 

economic development.’’ 

On July 9, 2009, RUS and the National 

Telecommunication Information 

Administration (NTIA) issued a joint 

Notice of Funds Availability at 74 FR 

33104 governing the first round of 

Recovery Act broadband funding under 

BIP and NTIA’s Broadband Technology 

Opportunity Program (BTOP). Under 

this first round Notice (the First Round 


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3822 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 14 / Friday, January 22, 2010 / Notices 

5 See 74 FR at 58941. 

6 See, e.g., Massachusetts Executive Office of 

Housing and Economic Development at 3–4; 

American Library Association at 7. 

7 See, e.g., TCA at 1–2 (Nov. 30, 2009). 

8 See, e.g., XO Communications at 2 (Nov. 30, 

2009); TCA at 1–2. 

NOFA), RUS made approximately 

$2,400,000,000 in funding available for 

BIP. Approximately 2,200 applications 

seeking $28 billion in Federal financial 

assistance were submitted in response 

to the First Round NOFA. 

The First Round NOFA opened BIP to 

a wider range of Applicants and projects 

than the RUS’ traditional programs. This 

enabled RUS to get a better 

understanding of the type of 

applications available to meet the need 

for broadband services in rural areas. 

With that experience, RUS, working in 

conjunction with NTIA’s BTOP, is 

focusing the second round funding on 

rural economic development in addition 

to continuing the effort of the First 

Round NOFA to reach unserved and 

underserved areas. RUS has qualified 

for funding any rural area that does not 

have broadband service at the rate of 5 

Megabits/second (Mbps) (upstream and 

downstream combined) in at least 50 

percent of its area. RUS has determined 

that rural areas without service at 5 

Mbps (upstream and downstream 

combined) lack high speed broadband 

service sufficient to facilitate rural 

economic development as required by 

the Recovery Act. 

In this Second Round NOFA, RUS 

and NTIA have determined that the best 

use of limited funding is to have RUS 

and NTIA focus on funding different 

aspects of broadband infrastructure. 

RUS will concentrate on funding Last 

Mile projects. With decades of 

experience of financing 

telecommunications infrastructure in 

rural America, RUS is uniquely 

equipped to focus on Last Mile rural 

projects. However, it is still important 

for RUS to continue funding certain 

Middle Mile projects to ensure all 

proposed rural economic development 

strategies incorporating broadband 

technology are given full consideration 

by an Agency whose mission is rural 

development. As a result, RUS will still 

consider funding Middle Mile projects, 

but strongly encourages such projects 

only be undertaken by current RUS loan 

or grant recipients, given the complexity 

of such projects, the amount of time to 

close these deals with respect to RUS’ 

statutory lien on project assets and any 

other debt or equity holders, and the 

limited timeframe available before 

Recovery Act funds expire. 

Additionally, NTIA has proposed in its 

second NOFA a Comprehensive 

Communities Infrastructure initiative 

that will fund Middle Mile 

infrastructure projects that include 

connections to community anchor 

institutions. As a result, RUS highly 

recommends that all other Middle Mile 

applicants consider applying to BTOP. 

Based on these considerations and in 

consideration of the multitude of 

comments filed in response to the 

Request for Information released on 

November 10, 2009, at 74 FR 58940, 

RUS has determined to make the 

following changes: 

B. Application Changes From the First 

Round NOFA 

1. Funding Categories 

a. Retained and Eliminated Categories 

In the First Round NOFA, RUS made 

funds available for three types of 

projects: Last Mile, Middle Mile and 

Last Mile Remote. This NOFA has 

retained funding for Last Mile projects 

and Middle Mile Projects, and 

eliminated the funding category for Last 

Mile Remote projects. 

b. New Categories 

It is essential to make every effort in 

this NOFA to reach unserved premises. 

A separate Satellite Project category has 

been established to reach premises left 

unserved by other technologies. 

Lastly, two funding purposes, Rural 

Library Broadband and Technical 

Assistance, have been added to allow 

Awardees the opportunity to adjust 

projects to include service to rural 

libraries and participation with rural 

economic development strategies. 

2. Modification of Eligible Service Areas 

In this Second Round of funding RUS 

has focused its efforts on rural economic 

development in addition to continuing 

to reach unserved rural areas. RUS has 

qualified for funding any rural area in 

which at least 50 percent of the 

premises in the area do not have access 

to broadband service at the rate of 5 

Mbps (upstream and downstream 

combined). RUS has determined that 

these areas lack high speed broadband 

service sufficient to facilitate rural 

economic development as required by 

the Recovery Act. Service offerings must 

still be within proposed funded service 

areas which are at least 75 percent rural 

as required by the Recovery Act. 

3. Change in Loan/Grant Award 

Allocation 

The First Round NOFA provided that 

all successful applications would 

receive an award comprised of 50 

percent loan and 50 percent grant (50/ 

50 loan/grant combination), except for 

rural remote projects which could 

receive up to 100 percent grant funding. 

Rural remote areas were defined as 

those unserved 100 percent rural areas 

which were located 50 miles or more 

from non-rural areas. This Second 

Round NOFA, however, combines rural 

remote and rural non-remote funding 

and therefore has a standard award of 

75/25 grant/loan combination. It is 

important to note that applicants 

requesting a larger loan component will 

be awarded more points in the scoring 

system and may have a greater 

likelihood of being funded. Applicants 

may request more than a 75 percent 

grant component by submitting a waiver 

request to the Administrator, which 

demonstrates their need for additional 

grant funding in accordance with the 

requirements of this Second Round 

NOFA. The waiver request will be 

addressed at the time any award is 

offered. The Administrator has the 

authority to award grants up to 100 

percent. 

4. No Joint RUS/NTIA Application 

Because the Recovery Act prohibits a 

project from receiving funding from 

NTIA in areas where RUS has funded a 

project, the first NOFA required 

Applicants to submit infrastructure 

applications consisting of proposed 

funded service areas which were at least 

75 percent rural to RUS to be considered 

under BIP, with the option of additional 

consideration under BTOP. The first 

NOFA provided that NTIA would not 

fund such an application unless RUS 

had declined to fund it. In response to 

comments from stakeholders during the 

initial round of funding, the agencies’ 

Request For Information invited public 

comment on whether the agencies 

should continue to require that these 

kinds of rural infrastructure 

applications be submitted to RUS first 

or whether the agencies should permit 

Applicants to file rural applications 

directly to NTIA without also having to 

submit them to RUS.5

The majority of commenters agree that 

rural Applicants should be permitted to 

apply directly to NTIA for BTOP grants 

without being required to first apply to 

RUS for BIP loans or grants.6 The most 

widely cited rationale was the burden 

imposed on Applicants to provide the 

additional financial analysis required by 

the RUS loan application for rural 

projects that do not qualify as remote 

and unserved or are not viable with only 

50 percent grant funding.7 Commenters 

also cite the inefficiency of requiring 

RUS to review proposals that are not 

viable for BIP.8

A majority of commenters favor the 

continued use of a common BIP–BTOP 


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9 See, e.g., Texas Statewide Telephone 

Cooperative at 5 (Nov. 25, 2009). 

10 See, e.g., Vantage Point Solutions at 5–7; Rural 

Community Assistance Partnership at 2 (Nov. 19, 

2009); RVW Inc. at 2; Mid-Rivers Communications 

at 6–7 (Dec. 1, 2009); South Dakota 

Telecommunications Association at 5, 11 (Nov. 30, 

2009). 

11See, e.g., Mid-Rivers Communications at 6. 

12See, e.g., National Rural Telecommunications 

Cooperative and DigitalBridge Communications 

Corp. at 6–7 (Nov. 30, 2009). 

13See, e.g., John Staurulakis, Inc. at 18; TCA at 

1–2. 

14See, e.g., NCTH-Cleartalk at 1 (Nov. 21, 2009); 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at 4; Satellite 

Industry Association at 4 (Nov. 30, 2009); New 

America Foundation at 21 (Nov. 30, 2009). 

15See, e.g., Montgomery Co. at 2 (Nov. 30, 2009); 

Oakland Co. at 1 (Nov. 30, 2009); City of New York 

at 2; City of San Francisco at 3 (Nov. 30, 2009). 

16See, e.g., Open Range Communications at 4 

(Nov. 30, 2009); Center of Social Inclusion at 2; 

Harris Corp at iii (Nov. 30, 2009). 

17See, e.g., John Staurulakis, Inc. at 14 (Nov. 30, 

2009); Rural Broadband Corp. at 7. 

18Applicants requesting less than $1 million in 

assistance (in the form of grants, loans, or a 

combination of grants and loans) were allowed to 

file their applications in a paper format for the first 

round NOFA, if filing electronically would impose 

a hardship on the Applicants. Applicants whose 

authorized representatives were individuals with 

disabilities were also allowed to file their 

applications in a paper format irrespective of the 

funding size of their request. 

application to avoid the duplicative 

effort of completing multiple 

applications.9 A few of these 

commenters favor maintaining the 

initial round of funding’s BIP-first rule 

requiring concurrent joint applications 

and reserving to RUS the first option to 

fund eligible proposals.10 The chief 

benefit adduced in support of this 

position is RUS’ expertise in evaluating 

rural applications so as to avoid 

redundant awards to ‘‘active’’ RUS 

borrowers.11 Commenters further 

recommend that the agencies implement 

a ‘‘check box’’ by which an Applicant 

may request immediate consideration by 

NTIA because its rural project requires 

more than a 50 percent grant to be 

viable or seeks to address one of NTIA’s 

broadband objectives.12 They also 

recommend allowing Applicants to 

produce only one financial analysis to 

demonstrate an ability to support either 

a 50 percent contribution (as required 

for BIP) or a 20 percent contribution (as 

required for BTOP) to a project.13

RUS and NTIA agree with the 

majority of commenters who argue that 

the ‘‘BIP-first’’ requirement of the initial 

funding round added an additional 

unnecessary burden for many 

Applicants. In this funding round, RUS 

and NTIA conclude that Applicants that 

are eligible for both BIP and BTOP 

funding may elect to apply directly to 

either NTIA for BTOP grants or RUS for 

BIP loans or loan/grants. However, both 

agencies strongly recommend that 

current RUS loan or grant recipients 

apply to BIP. Applicants may not apply 

to both agencies for the same grant 

project or for a substantially similar 

project. 

RUS believes that the elimination of 

joint applications will significantly 

streamline RUS’ internal review of 

applications. Moreover, the joint 

application process was burdensome on 

the Applicants. Eliminating this option 

is critical to ensuring that RUS is able 

to carry out its review in a timely 

manner, and that applications will be 

funded before the statutory deadline of 

September 30, 2010. 

5. Elimination of Two-Step Application 

Process 

The first round NOFA provided for a 

two-step application process. Under this 

process, the bulk of the materials 

required from the Applicant were 

sought with the application. Once this 

material was evaluated, RUS made an 

initial determination as to whether the 

application would likely be funded. If 

so, the application was moved into a 

second review process in which 

additional information was requested 

from the Applicant. The Applicant was 

given an additional 30 days to provide 

it. 

Although commenters generally had 

few problems with the two-step review 

process, several commenters argued 

persuasively that doing away with the 

two-step review process in favor of a 

simplified one-step process would 

streamline the application process. 

After an evaluation of the first round 

applications and consideration of the 

comments received, RUS determined 

that a one-step application process will 

best streamline BIP. Removal of the 

second step simplifies the application 

process, and adds valuable time to both 

the application window and the Agency 

review process. This clearly promotes 

the submission of more solid 

applications. 

6. Cost Effectiveness/Reasonableness 

To effectively leverage Recovery Act 

broadband funds for last mile projects, 

RUS will limit Federal assistance to no 

more than $10,000 per premises passed, 

unless a waiver is requested from the 

Administrator. The Administrator will 

consider such requests based on 

whether the application provides 

assistance to a significant number of 

critical community facilities, supports a 

recognized rural regional development 

plan, supports public safety projects, 

enhances broadband service to rural 

libraries, supports persistent poverty 

counties or substantially unserved areas, 

including Indian country. If the waiver 

request is denied, any award may be 

made contingent on improving cost 

effectiveness, or the application may be 

placed in the second review process and 

the Applicant will have an opportunity 

to revise its proposal. 

7. Elimination of Census Block 

Reporting 

The First Round NOFA required that 

Applicants report their proposed funded 

service territories on a census block 

basis. It was thought that this level of 

granularity was necessary to evaluate 

applications; however, reporting at the 

census block level imposed a significant 

burden on Applicants. 

A majority of the commenters 

advocate abandoning Census blocks in 

favor of other means of specifying 

proposed funded service areas.14

Commenting municipalities and cities 

unanimously express their 

dissatisfaction with the use of Census 

block data, citing it as a cumbersome 

method of reporting proposed funded 

service area designations.15 Multiple 

commenters offer zip codes, city 

boundaries, or even latitude and 

longitude coordinates as less 

burdensome alternatives for 

Applicants.16 Several commenters 

propose using Census tract data as a less 

burdensome alternative to census block 

data, in part because broadband service 

providers are already required to report 

their subscriber and demographic 

information according to census tracts 

in order to file FCC Form 477.17

For the Second Round NOFA, RUS 

has eliminated census block reporting. 

This requirement created unnecessary 

problems in the application process. 

Moreover, the present state of the 

mapping tool already identifies the 

affected census blocks as the Applicant 

draws its service territory. The 

elimination of this burden will allow 

Applicants to focus more time on the 

technical issues and feasibility of their 

application. 

8. Elimination of Paper Applications for 

Last Mile and Middle Mile Projects 

The First Round NOFA required that 

most applications for BIP be filed 

electronically. However, it provided an 

exception for certain Applicants to file 

their applications on paper.18 For the 

Second Round NOFA, RUS has 

eliminated paper applications for Last 

Mile and Middle Mile projects. RUS did 

not receive many paper applications in 

round one. Nevertheless, since paper 

applications have to be manually input 

into the electronic application system, 

their processing considerably slowed 


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RUS’ application review process and 

diverted limited resources. Since Last 

Mile, Middle Mile, and Satellite projects 

are anticipated to be the most lengthy 

and complex applications, as well as 

constituting the largest pool of 

applications, RUS now requires that 

they be submitted in electronic form. A 

major justification identified in the First 

Round NOFA for allowing the 

submission of paper applications 

concerned the need to provide an 

alternative means of submitting 

applications by individuals with 

disabilities. RUS has determined that 

the electronic application intake system 

that will be used during the second 

round of funding complies with the 

requirements of the Rehabilitation Act. 

9. Reconsideration of Applications 

a. Second Review 

If RUS expects to have excess funding 

capacity in the Second Round NOFA, 

the RUS Administrator may permit 

Applicants to adjust applications for 

reconsideration that would otherwise 

not be funded. RUS will reconsider only 

such applications which can be 

updated, reviewed and awarded funds 

before the expiration of Recovery Act 

funding, contain specific and limited 

adjustments, and promote significant 

economic rural development, as 

determined by the Administrator. Those 

applications that are considered for 

Second Review will not be permitted to 

redo the application, but only provide 

the supplemental information the 

Agency has requested. This will require 

a very stringent timeline for the 

Applicant and RUS. Any application 

that is processed under this procedure 

will be funded only after all properly 

submitted applications have been 

funded and will be subject to all 

applicable requirements under this 

NOFA. 

b. Transferability 

Under this NOFA, RUS will accept 

applications from NTIA that it 

determines it will not fund, but that 

may be consistent with RUS’ BIP 

requirements and priorities. RUS will 

handle such applications, if timely 

received from NTIA, under its Second 

Review process outlined in this NOFA. 

10. Administrator’s Discretion 

RUS has determined that in the 

Second Round NOFA, the 

Administrator will have the opportunity 

to exercise discretion in the application 

evaluation process in several ways to 

ensure the best mix of approved 

applications consistent with the 

purposes of BIP. One of the ways to 

exercise such discretion is for the 

Administrator to have the ability to 

separately award priority points and 

larger grant components to applications 

that provide significant assistance to 

critical community facilities (including 

libraries), promote rural economic 

development, support persistent poverty 

counties, serve chronically underserved 

areas, demonstrate cost effectiveness, 

offer low-cost service options, and/or 

provide for geographic diversity. 

II. Definitions 

The terms and conditions provided in 

this NOFA are applicable to and for 

purposes of this NOFA only. Unless 

otherwise provided in the award 

documents, all financial terms not 

defined herein shall have the meaning 

as defined by Generally Accepted 

Accounting Principles. 

Administrator means the RUS 

Administrator, or the Administrator’s 

designee. 

Applicant means an entity requesting 

an award under this NOFA, and where 

applicable, the First Round NOFA. 

Award documents mean, as 

applicable, the grant documents, loan 

documents, or loan/grant combination 

documents. 

Award means a grant, loan, or loan/ 

grant combination made under this 

NOFA. 

Awardee means a grantee, borrower, 

or borrower/grantee under this NOFA. 

BIP means the Broadband Initiatives 

Program, administered by the RUS, 

under the Recovery Act. 

Broadband means providing two-way 

data transmission with advertised 

speeds of at least 768 kilobits per 

second (kbps) downstream and at least 

200 kbps upstream to end users, or 

providing sufficient capacity in a 

middle mile project to support the 

provision of broadband service to end 

users. 

Build-out means the construction or 

improvement of facilities and 

equipment as specified in an 

Applicant’s application. 

CALEA means the Communications 

Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, 47 

U.S.C. 1001 et seq. 

Composite economic life means the 

weighted (by dollar amount of each 

class of facility) average economic life of 

all classes of facilities financed under 

this NOFA. 

Critical community facilities means 

public facilities that provide community 

services essential for supporting the 

safety, health, and well-being of 

residents, including, but not limited to, 

emergency response and other public 

safety activities, hospitals and clinics, 

libraries and schools. 

Current ratio means the current assets 

divided by the current liabilities. 

Economic life means the estimated 

useful service life of an asset as 

determined by RUS. 

Forecast period means the time period 

used by RUS to determine if an 

application is financially feasible. 

Financial feasibility of an application is 

based on five-year projections. 

GAAP means generally accepted 

accounting principles. 

Grant agreement means the agreement 

between RUS and the Awardee for 

grants awarded under this NOFA, 

including any amendments thereto, 

available for review at http:// 

www.broadbandusa.gov. 

Grant documents mean the grant 

agreement and security documents 

between the RUS and the Awardee and 

any associated documents pertaining to 

the grant. 

Grant funds mean Federal funds 

provided pursuant to a grant made 

under this NOFA. 

High Speed Access means high speed 

broadband service to facilitate rural 

economic development, or service at the 

rate of at least 5 Mbps (upstream and 

downstream combined). 

Interconnection Point means the 

termination point of a Middle Mile 

project. 

Last Mile project means any terrestrial 

infrastructure project the predominant 

purpose of which is to provide 

broadband service to end users or enduser devices (including households, 

businesses, public safety entities, and 

critical community facilities). 

Loan means any loan made under this 

NOFA. 

Loan contract means the loan 

agreement between RUS and the 

Awardee, including all amendments 

thereto, available for review at http:// 

www.broadbandusa.gov. 

Loan documents mean the loan 

contract, note(s), and security 

documents between the Awardee and 

RUS and any associated documents 

pertaining to the loan. 

Loan/grant means any loan/grant 

combination made under this NOFA. 

Loan/grant contract means the loan/ 

grant contract between RUS and the 

Awardee, including all amendments 

thereto available at http:// 

www.broadbandusa.gov. 

Loan/grant documents mean the loan/ 

grant contract, note(s), and security 

documents between the Awardee and 

RUS and any associated documents 

pertaining to the loan/grant. 

Middle Mile project means any 

broadband infrastructure project the 

predominant purpose of which is to 

provide interoffice transport, backhaul, 


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internet connectivity, or special access 

(including point-to-point projects), 

which furthers rural economic 

development, submitted in an 

application or co-application. 

Pre-application expense means any 

reasonable expense incurred after the 

release of this NOFA to prepare an 

application or to respond to RUS 

inquiries about the application, 

including engineering costs and 

accountant/consultant fees. 

Proposed funded service area means, 

for Last Mile projects, the contiguous 

area (either in all or part of an existing 

service area or a new service area) 

where the Applicant is requesting funds 

to provide broadband service pursuant 

to this NOFA. An Applicant may 

propose to serve more than one 

proposed funded service area. For 

Middle Mile projects, the proposed 

funded service area shall be the 

locations of the proposed 

interconnection points. 

RE Act means the ‘‘Rural 

Electrification Act of 1936,’’ as amended 

(7 U.S.C. 901 et seq.). 

Recovery Act means the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 

Public Law 111–5, 123 Stat. 115 (2009). 

Rural area means any area, as 

confirmed by the latest decennial 

census of the Bureau of the Census, 

which is not located within: (1) a city, 

town, or incorporated area that has a 

population of greater than 20,000 

inhabitants; or (2) an urbanized area 

contiguous and adjacent to a city or 

town that has a population of greater 

than 50,000 inhabitants. For purposes of 

the definition of rural area, an urbanized 

area means a densely populated 

territory as defined in the latest 

decennial census of the Bureau of the 

Census. 

Rural Library means a library in a 

rural area. 

RUS Accounting Requirements shall 

mean compliance with U.S. GAAP, 

acceptable to RUS, as well as 

compliance with the requirements of the 

applicable regulations: 7 CFR 3015, 

3016, or 3019 (for BIP Awardees in 

these CFRs the term grant recipient shall 

also mean loan recipient and loan/grant 

recipient) or the system of accounting 

prescribed by RUS Bulletin 1770B–1. 

Satellite Project means any project to 

provide satellite broadband service to 

unserved rural premises (including 

households, businesses, public safety 

entities, and critical community 

facilities), either by funding customerpremises equipment, terrestrial 

equipment, and/or discounted 

broadband service for at least one year. 

Security document means any 

mortgage, deed of trust, security 

agreement, financing statement, or other 

document that RUS determines is 

necessary to perfect its interest in the 

security for a loan, grant, or loan/grant. 

Service area means the area, 

including the proposed funded service 

area, where the Applicant offers or 

intends to offer any service. 

TIER means times interest earned 

ratio. TIER is the ratio of an Applicant’s 

net income (after taxes) plus (adding 

back) interest expense, all divided by 

interest expense (existing and any new 

interest expense including the interest 

expense associated with the proposed 

loan). 

Unserved area means a service area 

with no access to facilities-based, 

terrestrial broadband service, either 

fixed or mobile, at the minimum 

broadband transmission speed (set forth 

in the definition of broadband in this 

section). A premises has access to 

broadband service if it can readily 

subscribe to that service upon request. 

III. Funding Opportunity Description 

A. Funding Categories 

1. Last Mile Projects 

Applications for Last Mile projects 

must predominantly provide broadband 

service directly to the premises or to 

end users. Only those applications 

whose proposed funded service area 

contains 75 percent or more rural areas, 

within which not more than 50 percent 

of the premises in the rural areas have 

High Speed Access will be considered 

for funding. The standard award is a 

grant/loan combination of 75 percent 

grant and 25 percent loan. Applicants 

may request a waiver for more than 75 

percent grant in accordance with 

Section VII of this NOFA, or may 

request a greater percentage of loan. 

2. Middle Mile Projects 

RUS strongly encourages applications 

for Middle Mile projects from current 

RUS loan and grant recipients. Such 

projects are complex and more difficult 

to close, especially given the limited 

timeframe available before Recovery Act 

funds expire. 

Applicants must propose that at least 

75 percent of the interconnection points 

be in rural areas with no more than 50 

percent of the premises having High 

Speed Access. The communities in 

which the interconnection points 

terminate shall be used to determine the 

percentage of High Speed Access. For 

those interconnection points which do 

not terminate in any recognizable 

community, the nearest Census 

Designated Place shall be used. Middle 

Mile projects must provide interoffice 

transport, backhaul, internet 

connectivity, or special access 

(including point-to-point projects). The 

standard award is a grant/loan 

combination of 75 percent grant and 25 

percent loan. Applicants may request a 

waiver for more than 75 percent grant in 

accordance with Section VII of this 

NOFA, or may request a greater 

percentage of loan. 

3. Satellite Projects 

Given the importance of efforts to 

reach unserved premises, a separate 

Satellite Project category has been 

established to reach premises left 

unserved by other technologies. 

Subsequent to the opening of the 

window for Last Mile and Middle Mile 

projects, the Agency will publish a 

Request for Proposals for Satellite 

Projects, including the announcement of 

the funding allocation. 

Applicants must propose to serve 

only unserved rural premises in any of 

the regions listed in Section IX.T of this 

NOFA. Applicants may propose to serve 

more than one region; however, 

Applicants must submit applications 

which are broken out for each region. 

Only one Applicant will be selected to 

serve a region. 

At a minimum, an application must 

commit to providing broadband service, 

to providing customer-premises 

equipment (CPE) to subscribers at no 

cost (including no costs for installation, 

activation, or other hidden fees) and to 

providing to such subscribers at least a 

25 percent reduction in the Applicant’s 

service rates as of December 1, 2009, for 

a term of at least one year. 

Subsequent to the opening of the 

window for Last Mile and Middle Mile 

projects, the Agency will publish a 

Request for Proposals for Satellite 

grants, including the announcement of 

the funding allocation and the 

requirements of the application. The 

funding award for Satellite Projects is 

grant funding. 

4. Technical Assistance Grants 

Awardees under the First Round 

NOFA or Applicants under this NOFA 

may submit a request for an additional 

grant for funding for the purpose of 

developing regional broadband 

development strategies in rural areas. 

Technical Assistance grants may be 

used for the development of a USDArecognized regional strategy. Under this 

program, Technical Assistance 

Awardees will work in public/private 

partnerships to develop a USDAapproved regional plan to provide 

broadband service in rural areas that 

remain critically unserved. In addition, 

in order to foster cross collaboration 

with other related Federal programs, 


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19This amount may be increased to include 

unobligated funds from the First Round NOFA. 

Technical Assistance plans may be used 

by Applicants for submission to other 

Federal agencies, including programs of 

the Department of Transportation, 

Homeland Security, the Federal 

Communications Commission (FCC), 

and Telemedicine Program of the Indian 

Health Service. By fostering the 

development of rigorous regional 

broadband strategies, RUS anticipates 

that Technical Assistance Awardees 

will also be able to submit more focused 

applications in the future to RUS 

Infrastructure Telecommunications, 

RUS’ Rural Broadband Access, 

Community-Oriented Connectivity 

Broadband, and Distance Learning and 

Telemedicine grant and loan programs. 

Grants for Technical Assistance will 

be made in an amount up to $200,000. 

RUS, in its discretion, may decrease the 

requested award amount based on its 

evaluation of an application and based 

on the level of funding available for this 

program. 

Subsequent to the opening of the 

window for Last Mile and Middle Mile 

projects, the Agency will publish a 

Request for Proposals for Technical 

Assistance grants, including the 

announcement of the funding allocation 

and the requirements of the application. 

Applications for Technical Assistance 

grants will be accepted in paper-form 

only (the Easy Grants System will not be 

used to accept Technical Assistance 

grant applications), as set forth in the 

Request for Proposals. 

5. Rural Library Broadband Grants 

Awardees from the First Round NOFA 

or Applicants under this NOFA may 

submit a request for a grant to reimburse 

the associated costs for connecting any 

rural library in their proposed funded 

service area, being constructed, or to be 

constructed, with funding from an 

award from USDA’s Community 

Facilities program of the Rural Housing 

Service. Such costs need not have been 

addressed in the original application 

submitted under the First Round NOFA 

or Second Round NOFA. 

Subsequent to the opening of the 

window for Last Mile and Middle Mile 

projects, the Agency will publish a 

Request for Proposals for Rural Library 

Broadband grants, including the 

announcement of the funding allocation 

and the requirements of the application. 

Applications for Rural Library 

Broadband grants will be accepted in 

paper-form only, as set forth in the 

Request for Proposals. 

B. Available Funds 

1. General 

Approximately $2,200,000,000 in 

funding has been set aside for funding 

opportunities under this NOFA.19

2. Funding Limits 

Award amounts under this NOFA will 

be limited as follows: 

a. Last Mile Projects 

Up to $1,700,000,000 is available for 

loans or loan/grant combinations for 

Last Mile projects. 

b. Middle Mile Projects 

Up to $300,000,000 is available for 

loans or loan/grant combinations for 

Middle Mile projects. 

c. Satellite Project, Rural Library 

Broadband, and Technical Assistance 

Projects 

Up to $100,000,000 is available for 

grants for Satellite projects, as well as 

any and all funds not obligated for Last 

Mile and Middle Mile projects; and up 

to $5,000,000 is available for grants for 

Rural Library Broadband and Technical 

Assistance projects. 

d. Reserve 

Up to $95,000,000 is available for a 

reserve. 

3. Repooling 

RUS retains the discretion to divert 

funds from one category of projects to 

another. 

4. Award Period 

All awards must be made and funding 

obligated by September 30, 2010. While 

the completion time will vary 

depending on the complexity of the 

project, award recipients must 

substantially complete projects 

supported by this program within two 

years, and projects must be fully 

completed within three years of the date 

of issuance of the award. 

5. Type of Funding Instrument 

The funding instruments will be 

grants, loans, and loan/grant 

combinations. 

IV. Eligibility Information 

A. General 

Applicants must satisfy the following 

eligibility requirements to qualify for 

funding. 

B. Eligible Entities 

1. Last Mile and Middle Mile Projects 

The following entities are eligible to 

apply for assistance: 

a. States, local governments, or any 

agency, subdivision, instrumentality, or 

political subdivision thereof; 

b. A territory or possession of the 

United States; 

c. An Indian tribe (as defined in 

section 4 of the Indian SelfDetermination and Education 

Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)); 

d. A native Hawaiian organization; 

e. A non-profit foundation, a nonprofit corporation, a non-profit 

institution, or a non-profit association; 

f. Other non-profit entities; 

g. For-profit corporations; 

h. Limited liability companies; and 

i. Cooperative or mutual 

organizations. 

2. Satellite Projects 

a. A satellite Internet Service Provider 

(ISP); 

b. A reseller of satellite ISP service; 

c. A distributor or dealer of satellite 

ISP service; and 

d. A consortium of a, b, or c above. 

C. Application Eligibility Factors for 

Last Mile and Middle Mile Projects 

The following eligibility factors 

establish basic requirements that all 

Applicants must comply with in order 

to be eligible for an award. Applicants 

failing to comply with these 

requirements will not have their 

applications considered. 

1. Fully Completed Application 

Applicants must submit a complete 

application and provide all supporting 

documentation required for the 

application. 

2. Timely Completion 

A project is eligible only if the 

application demonstrates that the 

project can be ‘‘substantially completed’’ 

within two years of the date of issuance 

of the award and fully complete within 

three years of the date of the award. A 

project is considered ‘‘substantially 

complete’’ when an Awardee has 

received 67 percent of its award funds. 

3. Technical Feasibility 

Only projects that RUS determines to 

be technically feasible will be eligible 

for an award under this NOFA. 

Applicants will be required to submit a 

system design, network diagram and 

project timeline, certified by a 

professional engineer, for any 

application requesting funds over 

$1 million. 


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20Nothing herein shall be construed to affect the 

jurisdiction of the Federal Communications 

Commission with respect to such matters. 

4. Nondiscrimination and 

Interconnection 20

All Applicants must commit to the 

following Nondiscrimination and 

Interconnection Obligations: (a) Adhere 

to the principles contained in the FCC’s 

Internet Policy Statement (FCC 05–151, 

adopted August 5, 2005) or any 

subsequent ruling or statement; (b) not 

favor any lawful Internet applications 

and content over others; (c) display any 

network management policies in a 

prominent location on the service 

provider’s Web page and provide notice 

to customers of changes to these policies 

(Awardees must describe any business 

practices or technical mechanisms they 

employ, other than standard best efforts 

Internet delivery, to allocate capacity; 

differentiate among applications, 

providers, or sources; limit usage; and 

manage illegal or harmful content); (d) 

connect to the public Internet directly or 

indirectly, such that the project is not an 

entirely private closed network; and (e) 

offer interconnection, where technically 

feasible without exceeding current or 

reasonably anticipated capacity 

limitations, on reasonable rates and 

terms to be negotiated with requesting 

parties. This includes both the ability to 

connect to the public Internet and 

physical interconnection for the 

exchange of traffic. Applicants must 

disclose their proposed interconnection, 

nondiscrimination and network 

management practices with the 

application. 

All these requirements shall be 

subject to the needs of law enforcement 

and reasonable network management. 

Thus, Awardees may employ generally 

accepted technical measures to provide 

acceptable service levels to all 

customers, such as caching (including 

content delivery networks) and 

application-neutral bandwidth 

allocation, as well as measures to 

address spam, denial of service attacks, 

illegal content, and other harmful 

activities. 

In addition to providing the required 

connection to the Internet, Awardees 

may offer managed services, such as 

telemedicine, public safety 

communications, distance learning, and 

virtual private networks that use private 

network connections for enhanced 

quality of service, rather than traversing 

the public Internet. In evaluating the 

reasonableness of network management 

techniques, RUS will be guided by any 

applicable rules or findings established 

by the FCC, whether by rulemaking or 

adjudication. 

An Awardee may satisfy the 

requirement for interconnection by 

negotiating in good faith with all parties 

making bona fide requests. The 

Awardee and requesting party may 

negotiate terms such as business 

arrangements, capacity limits, financial 

terms, and technical conditions for 

interconnection. If the Awardee and 

requesting party cannot reach 

agreement, they may voluntarily seek an 

interpretation by the FCC of any FCC 

rules implicated in the dispute. If an 

agreement cannot be reached within 90 

days, the party requesting 

interconnection may notify RUS in 

writing of the failure to reach 

satisfactory terms with the Awardee. 

The 90-day limit is to encourage the 

parties to resolve differences through 

negotiation. 

With respect to non-discrimination, 

those who believe an Awardee has 

failed to meet the non-discrimination 

obligations should first seek action at 

the FCC of any FCC rules implicated in 

the dispute. If the FCC chooses to take 

no action, those seeking recourse may 

notify RUS in writing about the alleged 

failure to adhere to commitments of the 

award. 

Entities that successfully reach an 

agreement to interconnect with a system 

funded under BIP may not use that 

interconnection agreement to provide 

services that duplicate services 

provided by projects funded by 

outstanding telecommunications loans 

made under the RE Act. Further, 

interconnection may not result in a BIPfunded facility being used for ineligible 

purposes under the Recovery Act. 

These conditions apply to the 

Awardee and will remain in effect for 

the life of the Awardee’s federally 

funded facilities and equipment used in 

the project. These conditions will not 

apply to any existing network 

arrangements or to non-Awardees using 

the network. Note, however, that the 

Awardee may negotiate contractual 

covenants with other broadband service 

providers engaged to deploy or operate 

the network facilities and pass these 

conditions through to such providers. 

Awardees that fail to accept or comply 

with the terms listed above may be 

considered in default of their loan or 

grant agreements. RUS may exercise all 

available remedies to cure the default. 

5. Service Areas 

a. Eligible Service Areas for Last Mile 

and Middle Mile Projects 

Applications for Last Mile projects 

must predominantly provide broadband 

service directly to the premises or to 

end users in a proposed funded service 

area(s) that is/are 75 percent or more 

rural, within which not more than 50 

percent of the premises in the rural 

areas have High Speed Access. 

Applications for Middle Mile projects 

must provide interoffice transport, 

backhaul, internet connectivity or 

special access to interconnection points. 

At least 75 percent of the 

interconnection points must be in rural 

areas with no more than 50 percent of 

the premises having High Speed Access. 

The communities in which the 

interconnection points terminate shall 

be used to determine the percentage of 

High Speed Access. For those 

interconnection points which do not 

terminate in any recognizable 

community, the nearest Census 

Designated Place shall be used. 

b. Ineligible Service Areas for Last Mile 

and Middle Mile Projects 

i. Overlapping Service Areas 

RUS will not fund more than one 

project to serve any given geographic 

area. If more than one application 

would serve any overlapping geographic 

area, the application with the highest 

score will be funded; other applications 

for the same area will be rejected in 

their entirety unless RUS, in its 

discretion, determines that the extent of 

the overlap is de minimis, or less than 

25 percent of each application’s entire 

proposed funded service area. 

Notwithstanding, RUS, in its discretion, 

may readjust the proposed funded 

service area in any offer of funding to 

eliminate overlapping areas between 

one or more applications in order to 

promote rural economic development. 

The Agency’s proposal for service area 

readjustment may include a requirement 

that the Applicant will not compete in 

the excluded service area. 

For the purposes of the Agency’s 

determination of overlap, funding 

categories will not be subject to overlap 

analysis. For example, Last Mile 

projects shall not be considered to 

overlap with Middle Mile projects. 

ii. Incumbent Service Areas 

For all applications, the existing 

service area of RUS borrowers in which 

they provide broadband service shall 

not be eligible. These areas can be found 

at http://www.broadbandUSA.gov. In 

addition, the service areas of Awardees 

under the first round BIP/BTOP NOFA 

shall also be ineligible for funding. 

6. Fully Funded 

A project is eligible only if, after 

approval of the award, all project costs 

can be fully funded. To demonstrate 

this, Applicants must include with the 

application evidence of all funding, 


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21For example, there is a set of Federal principles 

for determining eligible or allowable costs. 

Allowability of costs will be determined in 

accordance with the cost principles applicable to 

the entity incurring the costs. Thus, allowability of 

costs incurred by state, local or federally-recognized 

Indian tribal governments is determined in 

accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular A– 

87, ‘‘Cost Principles for State, Local and Indian 

Tribal Governments.’’ The allowability of costs 

incurred by non-profit organizations is determined 

in accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular 

A–122, ‘‘Cost Principles for Non-Profit 

Organizations.’’ The allowability of costs incurred 

by institutions of higher education is determined in 

accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular A– 

21, ‘‘Cost Principles for Educational Institutions.’’ 

The allowability of costs incurred by hospitals is 

determined in accordance with the provisions of 

Appendix E of 45 CFR part 74, ‘‘Principles for 

Determining Costs Applicable to Research and 

Development under Grants and Contracts with 

Hospitals.’’ The allowability of costs incurred by 

commercial organizations and those non-profit 

organizations listed in Attachment C to Circular A– 

122 is determined in accordance with the 

provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation 

(FAR) at 48 CFR part 31. See 7 CFR 3015, 3016, or 

3019 (governing the Department of Agriculture’s 

implementation of OMB requirements). 

other than the RUS award, necessary to 

support the project, such as bank 

account statements or firm letters of 

commitment from equity participants or 

other lenders documenting the timely 

availability of funds. Equity partners 

that are not specifically identified by 

name will not be considered in the 

financial analysis of the application. 

7. Financial Feasibility and 

Sustainability 

Only projects that RUS determines to 

be financially feasible, and/or 

sustainable will be eligible for an award 

under this NOFA. A project is 

financially feasible when the Applicant 

is able to generate sufficient revenues to 

cover its expenses, has sufficient cash 

flow to service its debts and obligations 

as they come due, and meet the 

minimum TIER requirement of one and 

generate a minimum current ratio of one 

by the end of the forecast period, as 

determined by RUS. In addition, the 

project must also demonstrate a positive 

cash balance for each year of the 

forecast period. 

8. Leveraging of Recovery Act Funds 

In order to leverage funds to provide 

Federal assistance cost-effectively to the 

maximum number of eligible projects so 

as to ensure that as many households as 

possible that do not have sufficient 

access to high speed broadband will 

receive service, RUS has determined to 

limit Federal assistance under this 

NOFA for Last Mile projects to $10,000 

per premises passed in the proposed 

funded service area, unless a waiver is 

requested from the Administrator. The 

Administrator may waive this funding 

limitation if he determines that the 

application provides assistance to a 

significant number of critical 

community facilities, supports a 

recognized rural regional development 

plan, supports public safety projects, 

enhances broadband service to rural 

libraries, or supports persistent poverty 

counties or chronically unserved areas 

such as Indian country. If the waiver 

request is denied, any award may be 

made contingent on improving cost 

effectiveness, or the application may be 

placed in the second review process and 

the Applicant will have an opportunity 

to revise its proposal. To calculate the 

cost per premises passed, the Applicant 

shall divide the total award requested in 

the application by the total number of 

premises passed with facilities funded 

by an award. 

9. Service Requirements 

Projects must provide broadband 

service proposed in the application for 

the composite economic life of the 

facilities, as approved by RUS, or as 

provided in the Award Documents for 

100 percent grants, starting from the 

date of project completion. 

D. Eligible Cost Purposes 

1. General 

Award funds must be used only to 

pay for eligible costs. Eligible costs must 

be consistent with the cost principles 

identified in the applicable OMB 

circulars.21 In addition, costs must be 

reasonable, allocable, necessary to the 

project, and comply with the Recovery 

Act requirements. Any application that 

proposes to use any portion of the 

award funds for any ineligible cost will 

be rejected. 

2. Eligible and Ineligible Costs 

a. Last Mile and Middle Mile Projects 

i. Eligible Infrastructure Award 

Expenses 

Award funds may be used to pay for 

the following expenses: 

AA. To fund the construction or 

improvement of all facilities required to 

provide broadband service, including 

facilities required for providing other 

services over the same facilities, and 

including equipment required to 

comply with CALEA; 

BB. To fund the cost of leasing 

facilities required to provide broadband 

service if such lease qualifies as a 

capital lease under GAAP. Award funds 

may be used to fund the cost of a capital 

lease for no longer than the first three 

years after the date of the Award 

Documents; and 

CC. To fund reasonable preapplication expenses in an amount not 

to exceed five percent of the award. Preapplication expenses may be 

reimbursed if they are incurred after the 

publication date of this NOFA. 

ii. Ineligible Infrastructure Award 

Expenses 

Award funds may not be used for any 

of the following purposes: 

AA. To fund operating expenses of 

the Applicant; 

BB. To fund costs incurred prior to 

the date on which the application is 

submitted, with the exception of eligible 

pre-application expenses; 

CC. To fund an acquisition, including 

the acquisition of the stock of an 

affiliate, or the purchase or acquisition 

of any facilities or equipment of an 

affiliate. Due to the competitive nature 

of the application process, if affiliated 

transactions are contemplated in the 

application, approval of the application 

does not constitute approval to enter 

into affiliated transactions; 

DD. To fund the purchase or lease of 

any vehicle other than those used 

primarily in construction or system 

improvements; 

EE. To fund broadband facilities 

leased under the terms of an operating 

lease; 

FF. To fund merger or consolidation 

of entities; 

GG. To fund costs incurred in 

acquiring spectrum as part of an FCC 

auction or in a secondary market 

acquisition; and 

HH. To fund the costs of a satellite 

launch, construction, purchase, or 

leasing of transponder space. 

b. Eligible Satellite Award Expenses 

An eligible Satellite project award 

may be used by the Applicant: 

i. To fund customer-premises 

equipment up to $750 per subscriber 

(inclusive of the CPE, installation, and 

activation fees); 

ii. To reduce the monthly service cost; 

and/or 

iii. To fund the construction of 

terrestrial ground facilities, including 

equipment required to comply with 

CALEA. 

c. Eligible Rural Library Broadband 

Grants Expenses 

Award funds may be used by the 

Applicant to pay for the costs of the last 

mile connection to the rural library. 

d. Eligible Technical Assistance Grants 

Expenses 

Award funds may be used by the 

Applicant to fund the provision of 

technical assistance for the development 

of a regional broadband plan. Such 

technical assistance must include both 

planning and economic expertise. 


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V. Application and Submission 

Information 

A. Request for Application Package 

Complete application packages, 

including required Federal forms and 

instructions, will be available at http:// 

www.broadbandusa.gov. Additional 

information can be found in the 

Application Guidelines at http:// 

www.broadbandusa.gov. This Web site 

will be updated regularly. 

Applicants that are eligible for both 

BIP and BTOP have the option to apply 

to either agency for funding for the same 

project. However, applicants should 

apply to only one agency for a given 

project. RUS strongly recommends that 

applications for Middle Mile projects 

that are current RUS loan or grant 

recipients and applications with Last 

Mile projects that propose funding 

service areas that are 75 percent or more 

rural should apply to BIP for funding. 

RUS strongly recommends that 

applicants with Middle Mile projects 

that are not current RUS loan or grant 

recipients or applicants with Last Mile 

projects that propose service areas that 

are less than 75 percent rural should 

apply to BTOP for funding. This 

recommendation is necessary to 

improve the efficiency of both BIP and 

BTOP and to leverage the core expertise 

of the agencies. The RUS and NTIA will 

coordinate to identify potential service 

area overlaps, and will resolve such 

conflicts in the manner that best 

satisfies the statutory objectives of both 

programs. 

B. Registration 

1. DUNS Number 

All Applicants must supply a Dun 

and Bradstreet Data Universal 

Numbering System (DUNS) number. 

Applicants can receive a DUNS number 

at no cost by calling the dedicated tollfree DUNS number request line at 1– 

866–705–5711 or via the Internet at 

http://www.dunandbradstreet.com. 

2. Central Contractor Registration (CCR) 

All Applicants must provide a CCR 

(CAGE) number evidencing current 

registration in the CCR database. If the 

Applicant does not have a current CCR 

(CAGE) number, the Applicant must 

register in the CCR system available at 

http://www.ccr.gov/ 

StartRegistration.aspx. Applicants are 

encouraged to register early due to 

potential delays in registration. 

C. Contents of the Application 

1. Requirements for Single Applications 

from Same Entity for Last Mile and 

Middle Mile Projects 

A complete application will include 

the following: 

a. The identity of the Applicant and 

general Applicant and project 

information including: 

i. A description of the project that will 

be made public consistent with the 

requirements of the Recovery Act; and 

ii. The estimated dollar amount of the 

funding request; 

b. An executive summary of the 

project as detailed in the application; 

c. A description of the proposed 

funded service area including the 

number of premises passed including 

the number of critical community 

facilities, and public safety entities to be 

passed and/or involved in the project; 

d. Subscriber projections including 

the number of subscribers for 

broadband, video and voice services and 

any other service that may be offered; 

e. The number of jobs the project is 

expected to create or save; 

f. A map, as furnished on http:// 

www.broadbandUSA.gov of the 

proposed funded service areas 

indentifying the unserved areas and the 

areas without High Speed Access; 

g. The names of the communities, 

census designated places or other areas, 

including tribal lands, within the 

proposed funded service area; 

information as to whether the 

communities and areas identified above 

are rural or non-rural; the methodology 

for making the above classifications; and 

for Middle Mile projects, identification 

of the locations of the interconnection 

points. 

h. A description of the proposed 

service offerings, and the associated 

pricing plan, that the applicant proposes 

to offer, as well as the advertised prices 

of service offerings by competitors in 

the same area and; an explanation of 

why the proposed service offerings are 

affordable; 

i. A description of the applicant’s 

nondiscrimination, interconnection, and 

network management plans; 

j. A system design which includes a 

description of the proposed technology 

used to deliver the broadband service 

demonstrating that all premises in the 

proposed funded service area will be 

offered broadband service, a network 

diagram, a timeline including key 

milestones for implementation of the 

project, and a construction schedule all 

of which must be certified by a 

professional engineer who is certified in 

at least one of the states where there is 

project construction, if the funding 

request exceeds $1,000,000, unless the 

Administrator determines that such 

certification is not possible; an estimate 

of the cost of the project per household; 

a depreciation schedule for the facilities 

proposed for funding, a description of 

the necessary work force needed to 

build and operate the system, whether 

the applicant is seeking a waiver of the 

Buy American provision; and whether 

the project allows more than one 

provider to serve end users; a list of all 

required licenses and regulatory 

approvals needed for the proposed 

project; and how much the applicant 

will rely on contractors or vendors to 

deploy the network facilities; 

k. Resumes of key management 

personnel, a description of the 

organization’s readiness to manage a 

broadband services network, and an 

organizational chart showing any parent 

organizations and/or subsidiaries and 

affiliates; 

l. A legal opinion (as set forth in the 

application) that: (1) Addresses the 

applicant’s ability to enter into the 

award documents; (2) describes all 

pending litigation matters; and (3) 

addresses the applicant’s ability to 

pledge security as required by the award 

documents; 

m. Evidence of other Recovery Act 

awards, or collaboration with other 

Recovery Act awardees; 

n. Summary and itemized budgets of 

the infrastructure costs of the proposed 

project, including if applicable, the ratio 

of loans to grants, and any other source 

of outside funding, especially any other 

Recovery Act funds under other Federal 

programs, and an explanation of the cost 

per premises passed; 

o. A detailed description of working 

capital requirements and the source of 

these funds; 

p. Historical financial statements, 

Certified Public Accountant (CPA) 

audits if applicable, for the previous two 

calendar years; 

q. Pro Forma financial analysis, 

prepared in conformity with U.S. GAAP 

and the Agency’s guidance on grants 

accounting, found at http:// 

www.usda.gov/RUS/pasd/auditreg.htm, 

related to the sustainability of the 

project, including subscriber estimates 

and other proposed service offerings in 

addition to broadband Internet access; 

annual financial projections including 

balance sheets, income statements, and 

cash flow statements and supporting 

assumptions for a five-year forecast 

period as applicable; and a list of 

committed sources of capital funding; 

r. Attachments required in the 

application; 


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s. A self-scoring sheet, analyzing the 

objective scoring criteria set forth in this 

NOFA; 

t. The pricing package being offered to 

critical community facilities, or socially 

and economically disadvantaged small 

business concern (SDB) as defined 

under section 8(a) of the Small Business 

Administration, if any; 

u. A list of all the Applicant’s 

outstanding and contingent obligations, 

including copies of existing notes, loan 

and security agreements, and 

guarantees; 

v. If an SDB, evidence that the 

applicant is an SDB; 

w. A completed Environmental 

Questionnaire, other documentation 

requests, and required environmental 

authorizations and permits, including 

those required by the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 

(NEPA), the National Historic 

Preservation Act of 1966, as amended 

(16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.) (NHPA), and the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1534 et seq.) (ESA) 

as applicable; 

x. A description of measurable service 

metrics and target service level 

objectives (SLOs) (e.g., the speed with 

which new service will be established, 

service availability, and response time 

for reports of system failure at a 

residence) that will be provided to the 

customer, and a description of the 

approach and methodology for 

monitoring ongoing service delivery and 

service quality for the services being 

employed; 

y. Any waiver requests for projects 

proposing more than the $10,000 per 

premises funding limitation, or for 

applications requesting more than 75% 

grant; and 

z. Certification from the applicant that 

agreements with or obligations to 

investors do not breach the obligations 

to the government under the draft 

Award Documents. 

2. Requirements for Multiple 

Applications From Same Entity for Last 

Mile and Middle Mile Projects 

a. All of the requirements specified in 

paragraph (1) of this section, unless 

specifically provided for in paragraph 

(b). 

b. For existing companies, 

consolidated pro forma financial 

statements that include a baseline 

financial statement for existing 

operations, which start with the prior 

two years of the company’s financial 

position, for a five year projected 

period, with an additional set of 

financial statements that layer each of 

the operations for the addition 

applications into the baseline 

statements. In addition, a reconciliation 

schedule supporting the consolidation 

of the individual pro forma financial 

statements for revenue, capital 

spending, operating expenses, BIP 

funding and external funding for the 

company. For Start-up operations, 

consolidated pro forma financial 

statements that include the financial 

statements of the operation included in 

the application as the baseline financial 

statements, with an additional set of 

financial statements that layer each of 

the operations for the additional 

applications into the baseline 

statements. In addition, a reconciliation 

schedule supporting the consolidation 

of the individual pro forma financial 

statements for revenue, capital 

spending, operating expenses, BIP 

funding and external funding for the 

company. 

c. A commitment from all investors 

indicating their willingness to commit 

funds even if all applications are not 

funded. 

3. Requirements for Applications for 

Satellite Projects 

A complete application will include 

the following: 

a. The identity of the Applicant and 

general Applicant and project 

information including: 

i. A description of the project that will 

be made public consistent with the 

requirements of the Recovery Act; 

ii. The Congressional Districts 

affected by the project; 

b. An executive summary of the 

project; 

c. A description of the Applicant’s 

ability to cover an entire region; 

d. A description of the proposed 

service offerings and associated pricing 

plans, which must include a reduction 

of at least 25 percent of the Applicant’s 

service rates in effect as of December 1, 

2009 for at least one year, the provision 

of no cost CPEs (including no 

installation, activation, or other hidden 

fees), and how its rates will be 

affordable to low-income households. A 

copy of the service rate plans in effect 

on December 1, 2009, must also be 

included; 

e. Resumes of key management 

personnel, a description of the 

organization’s readiness to manage a 

broadband services network, and an 

organizational chart showing any parent 

organizations and/or subsidiaries and 

affiliates; 

f. A legal opinion (as set forth in the 

application) that: (1) Addresses the 

Applicant’s ability to enter into the 

award documents; (2) describes all 

pending litigation matters; and (3) 

addresses the Applicant’s ability to 

pledge security as required by the award 

documents; 

g. An itemized budget of the costs of 

the proposed project; 

h. Pro Forma financial analysis 

related to the sustainability of the 

project, including subscriber estimates 

and proposed service offerings in 

addition to broadband Internet access; 

annual financial projections including 

balance sheets, income statements, and 

cash flow statements and supporting 

assumptions for a five-year forecast 

period as applicable; and a list of 

committed sources of capital funding; 

i. Historical financial statements, 

Certified Public Accountant (CPA) 

audits if applicable, for the previous two 

calendar years; 

j. Certifications required in the 

application; 

k. The pricing package being offered 

to critical community facilities, if any; 

l. A list of all its outstanding and 

contingent obligations, including copies 

of existing notes, loan and security 

agreements, and guarantees; 

m. A detailed description of working 

capital requirements and the source of 

these funds; 

n. A completed Environmental 

Questionnaire, other documentation 

requests, and required environmental 

authorizations and permits, including 

those required by the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 

(NEPA), the National Historic 

Preservation Act of 1966, as amended 

(16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.) (NHPA), and the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1534 et seq.) (ESA) 

as applicable; and 

o. A description of measurable service 

metrics and target service level 

objectives (SLOs) (e.g., the speed with 

which new service will be established, 

service availability, and response time 

for reports of system failure at a 

residence) that will be provided to the 

customer, and a description of the 

approach and methodology for 

monitoring ongoing service delivery and 

service quality for the services being 

employed. 

D. Material Representations 

The application, including 

certifications, and all forms submitted 

as part of the application will be treated 

as a material representation of fact upon 

which RUS will rely in awarding grants. 


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22This ratio is calculated by the amount of new 

equity that the applicant proposes to support the 

project compared to the requested amount of the 

award. For example, if the applicant proposes $1 

million in outside equity and requests $1 million 

in assistance, the ratio is $1 million/$1 million, or 

100 percent. If the applicant proposes $500,000 in 

outside equity and requests $1 million in 

assistance, the ratio is $500,000/$1 million, or 50 

percent. This scoring criterion is intended to 

encourage a public/private partnership. 

VI. Application Evaluation Criteria 

A. Evaluation Criteria for Last Mile and 

Middle Mile Projects 

Each application will be scored 

against the following objective criteria, 

and not against other applications. 

1. Proportion of Rural Residents Served 

in Unserved Areas (10 Points) 

Points will be awarded for serving 

rural residents located in unserved 

areas. For every 10 percent of unserved 

households compared to the total 

households to be served that will 

receive broadband service, 1 point will 

be awarded up to a maximum of 10 

points. For Middle Mile projects, this 

will be based on the location of the 

interconnection points. 

2. Rural Area Targeting (10 Points) 

Points will be awarded for exceeding 

the 75 percent rural area service 

requirement. For every 5 percent 

increase in the total proposed funded 

service area that is above 75 percent 

rural, 2 points will be awarded up to a 

maximum of 10 points. For Middle Mile 

projects, this will be based on the 

location of the interconnection points. 

3. Distance From Non-Rural Areas (5 

Points) 

Up to 5 points will be awarded for 

proposed funded service areas that are 

at least 10 miles from the closest nonrural area. For each additional 10 miles 

that at least one proposed funded 

service area is located away from the 

closest non-rural area, 1 additional 

point will be awarded up to a total of 

5 points. For Applicants with multiple 

service areas, this calculation will be 

based on the service area closest to the 

non-rural area. For Middle Mile 

projects, this will be based on the 

location of the interconnection points. 

4. Title II Borrowers (8 Points) 

Eight points will be awarded to 

applications which are submitted by 

entities which have borrowed under 

Title II of the RE Act. 

5. Other Recovery Act Awards (5 Points) 

Points will be awarded for 

cooperation with other Recovery Act 

programs, where collaboration would 

lead to greater project efficiencies. In 

each case, the Applicant must 

convincingly demonstrate that these 

leveraging efforts are substantive and 

meaningful. Five points will be awarded 

for any cooperation with a Recovery Act 

award. 

6. Performance of the Offered Service 

(10 Points) 

a. Last Mile Projects 

For wireline projects that are 

constructed to deliver a minimum of 5 

Mbps service to the premises (upstream 

and downstream combined), 5 points 

will be awarded. For fixed wireline 

projects that are constructed to deliver 

a minimum of 20 Mbps service to the 

premises (upstream and downstream 

combined), 10 points will be awarded. 

For wireless projects that are 

constructed to deliver a minimum of 3 

Mbps service to the end user (upstream 

and downstream combined), 8 points 

will be awarded. For mobile wireless 

projects that are constructed to deliver 

a minimum of 3 Mbps service to the end 

user (upstream and downstream 

combined), 10 points will be awarded. 

For combination systems, scoring will 

be based on the predominant technology 

used. 

b. Middle Mile Projects 

For Middle Mile projects that are 

constructed to deliver 100 Mbps service 

to all interconnection points in their 

network, 10 points will be awarded. 

7. Service to Critical Community 

Facilities and SDBs (6 Points) 

For applications that are proposing to 

offer discounted rate packages to all 

critical community facilities in the 

proposed funded service area(s) that are 

at least 25 percent lower than the 

proposed base rate packages for at least 

3 years, 4 points will be awarded. For 

applications that are proposing to offer 

discounted rate packages at least 25 

percent lower than the proposed base 

rate packages to SDBs in the proposed 

funded service area for at least three 

years, 2 points will be awarded. 

8. Applicant’s Organizational Capability 

(10 Points) 

Up to 10 points will be awarded based 

on the strength of the project’s 

management team. RUS will evaluate 

past performance and accomplishments 

and award points accordingly. Details of 

these requirements will be in the 

Application Guide. 

9. Socially and Economically 

Disadvantaged Small Business Concern 

(3 Points) 

Three points will be awarded to 

Applicant SDBs. 

10. Leverage of Outside Resources (10 

Points) 

Up to 10 points will be awarded based 

on the amount of outside resources 

contributed to the total financing 

provided under BIP: 

a. 10 points if this ratio is 100 

percent.22

b. 7 points if this ratio is between 75 

percent and 99 percent. 

c. 5 points if this ratio is between 50 

percent and 74 percent. 

d. 3 points if this ratio is between 25 

percent and 49 percent. 

e. 0 points if the ratio is less than 25 

percent. 

Outside resources are limited to new 

investments that are proposed to 

support the project and do not include 

any existing assets that the Applicant 

already owns or has rights to or any 

revenues generating from the 

operations. 

11. Extent of Grant Funding (15 Points) 

Up to 15 points will be awarded based 

on the amount of grants funds requested 

in relation to the total amount of the 

award requested: 

a. 0 points if requesting a grant greater 

than 70 percent. 

b. 5 point if requesting a grant 

between 51 and 70 percent. 

c. 10 points if requesting a grant 

between 16 and 50 percent. 

d. 15 points if requesting a grant 

between 0 and 15 percent. 

12. Cost Effectiveness (8 Points) 

For Last Mile projects, up to 8 points 

will be awarded for projects that 

promote cost effectiveness of Federal 

assistance, based on cost per premises 

passed. To calculate the cost per 

premises passed, the Applicant shall 

divide the total award requested in the 

application by the total number of 

premises passed. 

a. 2 points if cost per premises passed 

is less than $8,000. 

b. 4 points if cost per premises passed 

is less than $7,000. 

c. 6 points if cost per premises passed 

is less than $6,000. 

d. 8 points if cost per premises passed 

is less than $5,000. 

B. Administrator’s Bonus Points (10 

points) 

The Administrator, at his discretion, 

can award up to a maximum of 10 

bonus points to applications that 

provide significant assistance to critical 

community facilities (including 

libraries), promote rural economic 


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development, support persistent poverty 

counties, serve chronically underserved 

areas, demonstrate cost effectiveness, 

offer low-cost service options, and/or 

provide for geographic diversity. 

However, the Administrator’s points 

may not raise an Applicant’s score to 

more than 100 points. 

VII. Waiver for Grants Capped at 75% 

of Award for Last Mile and Middle Mile 

Projects 

A. Waiver Request 

All Applicants may request a grant 

that does not exceed 75 percent of 

eligible projects. An Applicant may 

apply for a loan for any eligible project 

costs not covered by a grant under this 

NOFA. Applicants requesting more than 

a 75 percent grant component must 

request a waiver from the 

Administrator, demonstrating their need 

for additional grant funding, as well as 

the factors set forth in paragraph B of 

this section. If the waiver request is 

denied, the application may be adjusted 

by the Agency if an award is offered or 

may be placed in the second review 

process and the Applicant will have an 

opportunity to revise its funding 

request. The Administrator may award 

grants up to 100 percent. 

B. Administrator’s Waiver for Grants 

above 75% Waiver Considerations 

The Administrator may grant a 

request for waiver for a larger grant 

component based on the following 

factors: 

1. Distance From Non-Rural Areas 

The Administrator will consider the 

distance from the focus of the proposed 

funded service areas from the closest 

non-rural area. 

2. Rural Area Targeting 

The Administrator will consider the 

percentage of the proposed funded 

service area that is above the 75 percent 

requirement. 

3. Density 

The Administrator will consider the 

density of the proposed funded service 

area, calculated from the population and 

area totals of all proposed funded 

service areas taken from the mapping 

tool. 

4. Median Household Income 

The Administrator will consider the 

median household income of the 

proposed funded service area, 

comparing the county median 

household income to that of the State 

median income level. For applications 

serving multiple counties, the 

Administrator will weigh the 

percentages of all counties. 

5. Unemployment 

The Administrator will consider the 

state unemployment level compared to 

the National Unemployment Level in 

the state of the proposed funded service 

area. For applications serving multiple 

states, the Administrator will weigh the 

percentages in each State. 

C. Notice of Proposed Funded Service 

Areas for Last Mile and Middle Mile 

Projects 

RUS will post a Public Notice of the 

proposed funded service areas of each 

Last Mile application, and the 

communities in which the 

interconnection points terminate for 

Middle Mile applications, as outlined in 

Section IV.C.5.a(i), at http:// 

www.broadbandusa.gov for a 30 day 

period. The Public Notice will provide 

existing service providers an 

opportunity to submit to the agencies 

information regarding their service 

offerings. The information submitted by 

an existing service provider will be 

treated as proprietary and confidential 

to the extent permitted under applicable 

law. 

D. Evaluation and Processing 

Procedures 

1. Last Mile and Middle Mile Projects— 

First Review 

Applications for Last Mile and Middle 

Mile projects will be evaluated using the 

criteria stated in Section VII.A of this 

NOFA. Public comments received with 

respect to an application’s proposed 

funded service area will be reviewed 

and evaluated. Eligibility of proposed 

funded service areas may be verified by 

Agency field staff. RUS reserves the 

right to ask Applicants for clarifying 

information and additional verification 

of assertions in the application. For 

those applications that RUS has 

determined eligible for funding, RUS 

will send award documents. 

Applications meeting the guidelines set 

forth in paragraph D.2 below may be 

requested to provide additional 

information to the Agency for a second 

review. 

2. Last Mile and Middle Mile Projects— 

Second Review 

Subject to available funding, 

Applicants with applications that have 

not been approved under the first 

review, may be requested to provide 

additional information if the 

application: (a) Can be revised, 

reviewed, and awarded funds before the 

expiration of Recovery Act funding, (b) 

contains specific and limited 

adjustments; and (c) promotes 

significant economic rural development, 

as determined by the Administrator. 

Such Applicants will have no more 

than 15 days within which to provide 

the additional information. Applicants 

will not be permitted to redo the 

application, but only provide the 

supplemental information the Agency 

has requested. The application with the 

additional information will be reviewed 

under the same standard as the first 

review. Any application that is 

processed under this procedure will be 

funded only after all properly submitted 

applications have been funded and will 

be subject to all applicable requirements 

under this NOFA. For those 

applications which the Agency has 

decided to fund, award documents will 

be sent. 

3. Transfer of Applications 

For applications that NTIA 

determines it will not fund, but that 

may be consistent with RUS’ BIP 

requirements and priorities, NTIA will 

transfer to BIP for consideration of 

funding. Notwithstanding, NTIA makes 

no representation that the application is 

eligible under the requirements of BIP. 

Any decision on the funding of such 

transfers shall ultimately be in the sole 

discretion of RUS. RUS will handle 

such applications, if timely received 

from NTIA, under its Second Review 

process outlined above. 

4. Satellite Projects 

The United States will be divided into 

eight service area regions eligible for 

Satellite applications. Applicants must 

propose serving only unserved rural 

premises in any of the eight regions 

listed in Section IX.T in this NOFA; 

provided, however, unserved rural 

premises in proposed funded service 

areas of Awardees under the First 

Round NOFA and this NOFA shall not 

be eligible for services from satellite 

projects. Applicants may submit an 

application for more than one region; 

however, each region in the application 

must be broken out, so that the Agency 

can analyze the proposal for each region 

individually. Applicants are encouraged 

to serve all unserved rural premises 

throughout the region on a first-come, 

first-served basis until the award funds 

are expended. 

Applications will be evaluated using 

the criteria set forth herein and in the 

Request for Proposals. Procedures for 

selection of Awardees to provide 

satellite service will be set forth in the 

Request for Proposals to be published at 

a later date. The deadline for satellite 

application submissions will be 

provided in that Request. 


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5. Technical Assistance Grants 

Applications for Technical Assistance 

grants will be evaluated on the extent to 

which the Awardee of the First Round 

NOFA or Applicants under this NOFA 

has considered developing a USDAapproved regional planning 

organization(s), the strength and scope 

of the regional broadband development 

strategy, and the proposed broadband 

service to be brought to rural areas that 

remain critically unserved. The 

proposal should provide various 

strategies and the anticipated costs of 

each. Applicants may request up to 

$200,000. RUS, in its discretion, may 

decrease the requested award amount 

based on its evaluation of the 

application and the level of funding 

available for this program. 

6. Regional Library Broadband Grants 

Applications for Regional Library 

Broadband grants will be accepted from 

Awardees of the First Round NOFA or 

Applicants under this NOFA to cover 

the costs associated with connecting any 

rural library in their proposed funded 

service area, that is either being 

constructed, or to be constructed, with 

funding from USDA’s Community 

Facilities Program of the Rural Housing 

Service. Such costs need not have been 

addressed in the original application 

submitted under the First Round NOFA 

or Second Round NOFA. Applications 

need only address the rural libraries 

involved, the cost of providing a 

broadband connection and the date by 

which such service will be provided. 

RUS, in its discretion, may increase or 

decrease the requested award amount 

based on its evaluation of the 

reasonableness of the costs and the level 

of funding available for this program. 

VIII. Award Administration 

Information 

A. Award Notices 

Successful Applicants will receive 

award documents from RUS following 

award notification. Applicants may 

view sample award documents at 

http://www.broadbandusa.gov. 

B. Administrative Requirements 

1. Pre-award conditions 

No funds will be disbursed under this 

program until all other sources of 

funding have been obtained and any 

other pre-award conditions have been 

met. Failure to obtain one or more 

sources of funding committed to in the 

Application or to fulfill any other preaward condition within 30 days of 

award announcement will result in 

withdrawal of the award. 

2. Failure To Comply With Award 

Requirements 

If an Awardee fails to comply with the 

terms of the award as specified in the 

award documents, RUS may exercise 

rights and remedies. 

3. Advance Procedures 

RUS loan and grant advances are 

made at the request of the Awardee 

according to the procedures stipulated 

in the award documents. Loan/grant 

combination funds are advanced in 

proportion to the amount of the award 

made in the form of loans and grants. 

4. Contracting 

Contracting is to be done at the 

Awardee’s discretion, using private 

contracts or RUS’ form contracts. 

However, equal employment 

opportunity, civil rights, and the 

requirements of this NOFA must still be 

met. 

5. Accounting, Monitoring, and 

Reporting Requirements 

Awardees must follow RUS’ 

accounting, monitoring, and reporting 

requirements. These requirements, 

which are specified in the award 

documents, include, but are not limited 

to, the following: 

a. Awardees must adopt a GAAP 

system of accounts acceptable to RUS, 

and which complies with RUS 

Accounting Requirements, as defined 

herein; 

b. Awardees must submit annual 

audited financial statements along with 

a report on compliance and on internal 

control over financial reporting, and a 

management letter in accordance with 

the requirements of 7 CFR part 1773. 

The CPA conducting the annual audit is 

selected by the Awardee and must be 

approved by RUS as set forth in 7 CFR 

1773.4; 

c. Awardees must submit to RUS the 

information as specified in Section 

VIII.D.2 of this NOFA; 

d. Awardees must comply with all 

reasonable RUS requests to support 

ongoing monitoring efforts. The 

Awardee shall afford RUS, through its 

representatives and representatives of 

the USDA Office of Inspector General 

reasonable opportunity, at all times 

during business hours and upon prior 

notice, to have access to and the right 

to inspect the broadband system, and 

any other property encumbered by the 

mortgage or security agreement, and any 

or all books, records, accounts, invoices, 

contracts, leases, payrolls, timesheets, 

cancelled checks, statements, and other 

documents, electronic or paper of every 

kind belonging to or in the possession 

of the Awardee or in any way pertaining 

to its property or business, including its 

subsidiaries, if any, and to make copies 

or extracts therefrom. 

6. Assistance Instruments 

a. Terms and conditions of grants or 

loan/grant combinations are set forth in 

the non-negotiable standard grant or 

loan/grant contract, note, and/or 

mortgage found at http:// 

www.broadbandusa.gov. 

b. Terms and conditions of loans are 

set forth in the non-negotiable standard 

loan contract, note, and/or mortgage 

found at http://www.broadbandusa.gov. 

c. Loan and grant documents 

appropriate to the project must be 

executed prior to any advance of funds. 

d. Sample loan documents and grant 

agreements can be found at http:// 

www.broadbandusa.gov. 

7. Loan and Loan/Grant Terms and 

Conditions 

The following terms shall apply to the 

loans, as well as other terms that are 

specified in the loan documents: 

a. Interest Rate 

Loans shall bear interest at a rate 

equal to the cost of borrowing to the 

Department of Treasury for obligations 

of comparable maturity. The applicable 

interest rate will be set at the time of 

each advance. 

b. Repayment Period 

Unless the Applicant requests a 

shorter repayment period, broadband 

loans must be repaid with interest 

within a period that, rounded to the 

nearest whole year, is equal to the 

expected Composite Economic Life of 

the assets to be financed, as determined 

by RUS based upon acceptable 

depreciation rates. 

c. Amortization Period 

Interest begins accruing on the date of 

each loan advance and interest 

payments are due monthly. After one 

year from the first advance, monthly 

principal payments will be established 

in an amount that amortizes the 

outstanding balance over the remaining 

term of the loan. 

d. Fidelity Bonding 

Applicants must agree to obtain a 

fidelity bond for 15 percent of the award 

amount. The fidelity bond must be 

obtained as a condition of award 

closing. RUS may reduce the percentage 

required if it determines that 15 percent 

is not commensurate with the risk 

involved. 


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23See Recovery Act sec. 6001(e)(4), 123 Stat. at 

514. 

24See, e.g., 2 CFR part 176; OMB, Interim Final 

Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance, 74 FR 

18449 (Apr. 23, 2009); Implementing Guidance for 

Reports on Use of Funds Pursuant to the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (OMB M– 

09–21 June 22, 2009); and Updated Guidance on the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 

(OMB M–10–08 Dec. 18, 2009). 25Recovery Act sec. 1512(c), 123 Stat. at 287. 

e. Security 

The portion of the award must be 

adequately secured, as determined by 

RUS. 

i. The loan and loan/grant 

combination must be secured by the 

assets purchased with the loan or loan/ 

grant funds, as well as all other assets 

of the Applicant and any other co-signer 

of the loan documents that are available 

to be pledged to RUS. 

ii. RUS must be given an exclusive 

first lien, in form and substance 

satisfactory to RUS, on all of the assets 

purchased with the loan or loan/grant 

funds. RUS may share its first lien 

position with one or more lenders on a 

pari passu basis if security 

arrangements are acceptable to RUS. 

iii. Unless otherwise approved by 

RUS, all property purchased with award 

funds must be owned by the Awardee. 

iv. In the case of awards that include 

financing of facilities that do not 

constitute self-contained operating 

systems, the Applicant shall furnish 

assurances, satisfactory to RUS, that 

continuous and efficient service at the 

broadband funding speed will be 

rendered. 

C. Award Terms and Conditions 

1. Scope 

Awardees, including all contractors 

and subcontractors, are required to 

comply with the obligations set forth in 

the Recovery Act and the requirements 

established herein. Any obligation that 

applies to the Awardee shall extend for 

the life of the awarded-funded facilities. 

2. Sale or Lease of Project Assets 

The sale or lease of any portion of the 

award-funded broadband facilities shall 

be governed by the applicable Award 

Document and the Department’s grant 

regulations at 7 CFR 3015, 3016, and 

3019. Unless otherwise permitted in the 

Award Document, project assets cannot 

be sold while the loan is outstanding. 

Terms under which grant assets can be 

sold are outlined in the Department’s 

grant regulations cited above. 

3. Certifications 

a. The Applicant must certify that he 

or she is authorized to submit the 

application on behalf of the eligible 

entity(ies) listed on the application; that 

the Applicant has examined the 

application, that all of the information 

in the application, including 

certifications and forms submitted, all of 

which are part of the application, are 

material representations of fact and true 

and correct to the best of his or her 

knowledge; that the entity(ies) that is 

requesting funding pursuant to the 

application and any subawardees will 

comply with the terms, conditions, 

purposes, and Federal requirements of 

the program; that no kickbacks were 

paid to anyone; and that a false, 

fictitious, or fradulent statement or 

claim on this application is grounds for 

denial or termination of an award, and/ 

or possible punishment by a fine or 

imprisonment as provided in 18 U.S.C. 

1001 and civil violations of the False 

Claims Act (31 U.S.C. 3729 et seq.); 

b. The Applicant certifies that the 

entity(ies) he or she represents have and 

will comply with all applicable Federal, 

state, and local laws, rules, regulations, 

ordinances, codes, orders, and 

programmatic rules and requirements 

relating to the project.23 The Applicant 

acknowledges that failure to do so may 

result in rejection or deobligation of the 

award. The Applicant acknowledges 

that failure to comply with all Federal 

and program rules could result in civil 

or criminal prosecution by the 

appropriate law enforcement 

authorities; 

D. Reporting Requirements 

1. General Recovery Act Requirements 

a. OMB Reporting Requirements 

Implementing the Recovery Act 

Any grant, loan, or loan/grant 

combination awarded under this NOFA 

shall be subject to the applicable 

statutes and regulations regarding 

reporting on Recovery Act funds.24 If 

Recovery Act funds are combined with 

other funds to fund or complete projects 

and activities, Recovery Act funds must 

be accounted for separately from other 

funds and reported to RUS or any 

Federal web site established for 

Recovery Act reporting purposes. 

Moreover, recipients of funds under this 

NOFA must also comply with the 

accounting requirements as established 

or referred to in this NOFA. 

b. Required Data Elements 

The Awardee and each contractor 

engaged by the Awardee must submit 

the following information to the 

relevant Agency: 

i. The total amount of Recovery Act 

funds received; 

ii. The amount of Recovery Act funds 

received that were expended or 

obligated to projects or activities; 

iii. A detailed list of all projects or 

activities for which Recovery Act funds 

were expended or obligated, including 

(1) the name of the project or activity; 

(2) a description of the project or 

activity; (3) an evaluation of the 

completion status of the project or 

activity; (4) an estimate of the number 

of jobs created and the number of jobs 

retained by the project or activity; and 

(5) for infrastructure investments made 

by state and local governments, the 

purpose, total cost, and rationale of the 

Agency for funding the infrastructure 

investment with Recovery Act funds, 

and name of the person to contact at the 

Agency if there are concerns with the 

infrastructure investment; and 

iv. Detailed information on any 

subcontracts or subgrants awarded by 

the Awardee to include the data 

elements required to comply with the 

Federal Funding Accountability and 

Transparency Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 109– 

282, 120 Stat. 1186 (to be codified at 31 

U.S.C. 6101 note), allowing aggregate 

reporting on awards below $25,000 or to 

individuals.25

Awardees that must report 

information according to paragraph b(iv) 

of this section (re: subcontracts or 

subgrants) must register with the CCR 

database (http://www.ccr.gov/) or 

complete other registration 

requirements as determined by the 

Director of OMB. 

c. Reporting Deadlines 

Recovery Act reports are due to the 

agencies 10 days after the quarter in 

which the award was issued ends and, 

unless otherwise noted, each quarter 

thereafter in which the Awardee 

receives financial assistance. The final 

report should summarize the Awardee’s 

quarterly filings and state whether the 

project’s goals have been satisfied. 

Pursuant to OMB Guidelines, reports 

should be submitted electronically to 

http://www.federalreporting.gov. If the 

Awardee fails to submit an acceptable 

quarterly report or audited financial 

statement within the timeframe 

designated in the grant or loan award, 

the agencies may suspend further 

payments until the Awardee complies 

with the reporting requirements. 

Additional information regarding 

reporting requirements will be specified 

at the time the award is issued. 

2. BIP-Specific Reporting Requirements 

In addition to the general Recovery 

Act reporting requirements, BIP 

Awardees shall also report on the 

information requested below: 


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26 Id. Sec.1604, 123 Stat. at 303. 

27 Id. Sec. 1606, 123 Stat. at 303. 

28See OMB, Interim Final Guidance for Federal 

Financial Assistance, 74 FR 18449 (Apr. 23, 2009). 

a. Awardees must submit to RUS 30 

calendar days after the end of each 

calendar year quarter, balance sheets, 

income statements, statements of cash 

flow, rate package summaries, and the 

number of customers taking broadband 

service on a per community basis 

utilizing RUS’ Broadband Collection 

and Analysis System (BCAS). BCAS is 

an electronic reporting system that is 

accessed through the Internet. 

b. Annually on January 31, starting 

the first January 31 after completion of 

the project, Awardees must submit to 

RUS, using the electronic reporting 

system provided by RUS: 

i. Number of households and 

businesses subscribing to broadband 

service; 

ii. Number of households and 

businesses subscribing to broadband 

service that receive improved access; 

and 

iii. Number of educational, library, 

healthcare, and public safety providers 

receiving either new or improved access 

to broadband service. 

c. Awardees shall specifically state in 

the applicable quarter when they have 

received 67 percent of the award funds. 

Reaching this threshold will indicate 

that the Awardee has substantially 

completed its project. 

d. The obligation to report under this 

section shall exist while the Awardee 

has an outstanding loan/grant 

combination, or for a grant only, for five 

years from the date of the completion of 

the project. 

IX. Other Information 

A. Funding Rounds 

This is the final funding round for 

BIP. 

B. Discretionary Awards 

The government is not obligated to 

make any award as a result of this 

announcement, and will fund only 

projects that are deemed likely to 

achieve the program’s goals and for 

which funds are available. 

C. Limitation on Expenditures 

The Recovery Act imposes an 

additional limitation on the use of funds 

expended or obligated from 

appropriations made pursuant to its 

provisions. Specifically, for purposes of 

this NOFA, none of the funds 

appropriated or otherwise made 

available under the Recovery Act may 

be used by any State or local 

government, or any private entity, for 

any casino or other gambling 

establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf 

course, or swimming pool.26

D. Recovery Act Logo 

All projects that are funded by the 

Recovery Act shall display signage that 

features the Primary Emblem 

throughout the construction phase. The 

signage should be displayed in a 

prominent location on site. Some 

exclusions may apply. The Primary 

Emblem should not be displayed at a 

size less than six inches in diameter. 

E. Environmental and National Historic 

Preservation Requirements 

Awarding agencies are required to 

analyze the potential environmental 

impacts, as required by the NEPA and 

the NHPA for Applicant projects or 

proposals seeking Recovery Act 

funding. All Applicants are required to 

complete the Environmental 

Questionnaire under the description of 

program activities and to submit all 

other required environmental 

documentation with the application. 

It is the Applicant’s responsibility to 

obtain all necessary Federal, State, and 

local governmental permits and 

approvals necessary for the proposed 

work to be conducted. Applicants are 

expected to design their projects so that 

they minimize the potential for adverse 

impacts to the environment. Applicants 

also will be required to cooperate with 

the granting agencies in identifying 

feasible measures to reduce or avoid any 

identified adverse environmental 

impacts of their proposed projects. The 

failure to do so may be grounds for not 

making an award. 

Applications will be reviewed to 

ensure that they contain sufficient 

information to allow Agency staff to 

conduct a NEPA analysis so that 

appropriate NEPA documentation can 

be submitted to the agencies, along with 

the recommendation for funding of the 

selected applications. Applicants 

proposing activities that cannot be 

covered by existing environmental 

compliance procedures will be informed 

after the technical review stage whether 

NEPA compliance and other 

environmental requirements can 

otherwise be expeditiously met so that 

a project can proceed within the 

timeframes anticipated under the 

Recovery Act. 

If additional information is required 

after an application is accepted for 

funding, funds can be withheld by the 

agencies under a special award 

condition requiring the Awardee to 

submit additional environmental 

compliance information sufficient for 

the Agency to make an assessment of 

any impacts that a project may have on 

the environment. 

F. Davis-Bacon Wage Requirements 

Pursuant to section 1606 of the 

Recovery Act, any project using 

Recovery Act funds requires the 

payment of not less than the prevailing 

wages for ‘‘all laborers and mechanics 

employed by contractors and 

subcontractors on projects funded 

directly by or assisted in whole or in 

part by and through the Federal 

Government.’’ 27

G. Financial and Audit Requirements 

To maximize the transparency and 

accountability of funds authorized 

under the Recovery Act, all Applicants 

are required to comply with the 

applicable regulations set forth in 

OMB’s Interim Final Guidance for 

Federal Financial Assistance.28

Recipients that expend $500,000 or 

more of Federal funds during their fiscal 

year are required to submit an 

organization-wide financial and 

compliance audit report. The audit must 

be performed in accordance with the 

U.S. General Accountability Office, 

Government Auditing Standards, 

located at http://www.gao.gov/govaud/ 

ybk01.htm, and OMB Circular A–133, 

Audits of States, Local Governments, 

and Non-Profit Organizations, located at 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/ 

circulars/a133/a133.html. Awardees are 

responsible for ensuring that subrecipient audit reports are received and 

for resolving any audit findings. 

H. Deobligation 

The RUS reserves the right to 

deobligate awards to recipients under 

this NOFA that demonstrate an 

insufficient level of performance, or 

wasteful or fraudulent spending, and 

award these funds competitively to new 

or existing Applicants prior to 

September 30, 2010. 

I. Confidentiality of Applicant 

Information 

Applicants are encouraged to identify 

and label any confidential and 

proprietary information contained in 

their applications. The Agency will 

protect confidential and proprietary 

information from public disclosure to 

the fullest extent authorized by 

applicable law, including the Freedom 

of Information Act, as amended (5 

U.S.C. 552), the Trade Secrets Act, as 

amended (18 U.S.C. 1905), the 

Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (18 

U.S.C. 1831 et seq.), and CALEA (47 

U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). Applicants should 

be aware, however, that the Recovery 


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29See Recovery Act sec. 6001(i)(5), 123 Stat. at 

515. 

30See id. §§ 1511, 1526, 123 Stat. at 287, 293. 

31 Id. Sec 1605, 123 Stat. at 303. 

32See 2 CFR part 176. 

Act requires substantial transparency. 

For example, RUS is required to make 

publicly available on the Internet a list 

of each entity that has applied for a 

grant, a description of each application, 

the status of each application, the name 

of each entity receiving funds, the 

purpose for which the entity is receiving 

the funds, each quarterly report, and 

other information.29

J. Disposition of Unsuccessful 

Applications 

Applications accepted for review for 

Fiscal Year 2010 BIP will be retained for 

two years, after which they will be 

destroyed. 

K. State Certifications 

With respect to funds made available 

under Recovery Act to state or local 

governments for infrastructure 

investments, the governor, mayor, or 

other chief executive, as appropriate, 

must certify that the infrastructure 

investment has received the full review 

and vetting required by law and that the 

chief executive accepts responsibility 

that the infrastructure investment is an 

appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. This 

certification must include a description 

of the investment, the estimated total 

cost, and the amount of funds to be 

used, and must be posted on the 

recipient’s Web site and linked to http:// 

www.recovery.gov. A state or local 

Agency may not receive infrastructure 

investment funding from funds made 

available under the Recovery Act unless 

this certification is made and posted.30

L. Compliance With Applicable Laws 

Any recipient of funds under this 

NOFA shall be required to comply with 

all applicable Federal and state laws, 

including but not limited to: i. The 

nondiscrimination and equal 

employment opportunity requirements 

of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 

1964, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2000e et 

seq., 7 CFR part 15); ii. section 504 of 

the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794 et 

seq.; 7 CFR part 15b); iii. The Age 

Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended 

(42 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.; 45 CFR part 90); 

iv. Executive Order 11375, amending 

Executive Order 11246, Relating to 

Equal Employment Opportunity (3 CFR 

part 102). See 7 CFR parts 15 and 15b 

and 45 CFR part 90, RUS Bulletin 1790– 

1 (‘‘Nondiscrimination among 

Beneficiaries of RUS Programs’’), and 

RUS Bulletin 20–15:320–15 (‘‘Equal 

Employment Opportunity in 

Construction Financed with RUS 

Loans’’). The RUS Bulletins are available 

at http://www.broadbandusa.gov.; v. 

The Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, 

as amended (42 U.S.C. 4151 et seq.); vi. 

The Uniform Federal Accessibility 

Standards (UFAS) (Appendix A to 41 

CFR subpart 101–19.6); and vii. The 

Council on Environmental Quality 

Regulations for Implementing the 

Procedural Provisions of NEPA and 

certain related Federal environmental 

laws, statutes, regulations, and 

Executive Orders found in 7 CFR part 

1794. A more complete list of such 

requirements can be found in the 

applicable grant agreement or loan 

contract. 

M. Communications Laws 

Awardees, and in particular, 

Broadband Infrastructure Awardees, 

will be required to comply with all 

applicable Federal and State 

communications laws and regulation as 

applicable, including, for example, the 

Communications Act of 1934, as 

amended, (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) the 

Telecommunications Act of 1996, as 

amended (Pub. L. 104–104, 110 Stat. 56 

(1996), and CALEA. For further 

information, see http://www.fcc.gov. 

N. Buy American Notice 

1. General Prohibition and Waiver 

None of the funds appropriated or 

otherwise made available by the 

Recovery Act may be used for the 

construction, alteration, maintenance, or 

repair of a public building or public 

work (as such terms are defined in 2 

CFR 176.140) unless all of the iron, 

steel, and manufacturing goods used in 

the project are produced in the United 

States.31 On July 1, 2009, the 

Department of Agriculture published a 

notice in the Federal Register at 74 FR 

31402 stating that the Secretary of 

Agriculture has determined that 

applying the Buy American provision 

for the use of certain broadband 

equipment in public BIP projects would 

be inconsistent with the public interest. 

As explained below, to the extent that 

an Applicant wishes to use broadband 

equipment or goods that are not covered 

by the Secretary’s waiver, it may seek an 

additional waiver on a case-by-case 

basis as part of its application for 

Recovery Act funds. 

2. OMB Buy American Notice 

Requirement 

Pursuant to OMB guidance on the 

Recovery Act,32 RUS is required to 

provide notice as prescribed at 2 CFR 

176.170. 

Section 176.170: Notice of Required 

Use of American Iron, Steel, and 

Manufactured Goods (covered under 

International Agreements)—Section 

1605 of the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009. 

When requesting applications or 

proposals for Recovery Act programs or 

activities that may involve construction, 

alteration, maintenance, or repair of a 

public building or public work, and 

involve iron, steel, and/or manufactured 

goods covered under international 

agreements, the agency shall use the 

notice described in the following 

paragraphs in the solicitation: 

(a) Definitions. Designated country 

iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods, 

foreign iron, steel, and/or manufactured 

good, manufactured good, public 

building and public work, and steel, as 

used in this provision, are defined in 2 

CFR 176.160(a). 

(b) Requests for determinations of 

inapplicability. A prospective applicant 

requesting a determination regarding the 

inapplicability of section 1605 of the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111–5) (Recovery 

Act) should submit the request to the 

award official in time to allow a 

determination before submission of 

applications or proposals. The 

prospective Applicant shall include the 

information and applicable supporting 

data required by 2 CFR 176.160 (c) and 

(d) in the request. If an Applicant has 

not requested a determination regarding 

the inapplicability of section 1605 of the 

Recovery Act before submitting its 

application or proposal, or has not 

received a response to a previous 

request, the Applicant shall include the 

information and supporting data in the 

application or proposal. 

(c) Evaluation of project proposals. If 

the Federal Government determines that 

an exception based on unreasonable 

cost of domestic iron, steel, and/or 

manufactured goods applies, the Federal 

Government will evaluate a project 

requesting exception to the 

requirements of section 1605 of the 

Recovery Act by adding to the estimated 

total cost of the project 25 percent of the 

project cost if foreign iron, steel, or 

manufactured goods are used based on 

unreasonable cost of comparable 

domestic iron, steel, or manufactured 

goods. 

(d) Alternate project proposals. 

(1) When a project proposal includes 

foreign iron, steel, and/or manufactured 

goods, other than designated country 

iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods, 

that are not listed by the Federal 

Government in this Buy American 


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notice in the request for applications or 

proposals, the Applicant may submit an 

alternate proposal based on use of 

equivalent domestic or designated 

country iron, steel, and/or manufactured 

goods. 

(2) If an alternate proposal is 

submitted, the Applicant shall submit a 

separate cost comparison table prepared 

in accordance with paragraphs 2 CFR 

176.160(c) and (d) for the proposal that 

is based on the use of any foreign iron, 

steel, and/or manufactured goods for 

which the Federal Government has not 

yet determined an exception applies. 

(3) If the Federal Government 

determines that a particular exception 

requested in accordance with 2 CFR 

176.160(b) does not apply, the Federal 

Government will evaluate only those 

proposals based on use of the equivalent 

domestic or designated country iron, 

steel, and/or manufactured goods, and 

the Applicant shall be required to 

furnish such domestic or designated 

country items. 

O. Executive Order 12866 

This notice has been determined to be 

‘‘economically significant’’ under 

Executive Order 12866. The Recovery 

Act also appropriates $2.5 billion to 

RUS for broadband grants and loans. 

Awards must be made no later than 

September 30, 2010. In accordance with 

Executive Order 12866, an economic 

analysis was completed outlining the 

costs and benefits of implementing each 

of these programs. The complete 

analysis is available from RUS upon 

request. 

P. Executive Order 13132 

It has been determined that this notice 

does not contain policies with 

federalism implications as that term is 

defined in Executive Order 13132. 

Q. Administrative Procedure Act 

Statement 

This NOFA is being issued without 

advance rulemaking or public comment. 

The Administrative Procedure Act of 

1946, as amended (5 U.S.C. 553) (APA), 

has several exemptions to rulemaking 

requirements. Among them is an 

exemption for ‘‘good cause’’ found at 5 

U.S.C. 553(b)(B), which allows effective 

government action without rulemaking 

procedures where withholding the 

action would be ‘‘impracticable, 

unnecessary, or contrary to the public 

interest.’’ 

USDA has determined, consistent 

with the APA that making these funds 

available under this NOFA for 

broadband development, as mandated 

by the Recovery Act, is in the public 

interest. Given the emergency nature of 

the Recovery Act and the extremely 

short time period within which all 

funds must be obligated, withholding 

this NOFA to provide for public notice 

and comment would unduly delay the 

provision of benefits associated with 

these broadband initiatives and be 

contrary to the public interest. 

For the same reasons, the Agency 

finds good cause under 5 U.S.C. 

553(d)(3) to waive the 30-day delay in 

effectiveness for this action. Because 

notice and opportunity for comment are 

not required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 

553(d)(3) or any other law, the 

analytical requirements of the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as 

amended (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) are 

inapplicable. Therefore, a regulatory 

flexibility analysis is not required and 

has not been prepared. 

R. Paperwork Reduction Act 

Copies of all forms, regulations, and 

instructions referenced in this NOFA 

may be obtained from RUS by e-mailing 

BroadbandUSA@usda.gov. Data 

furnished by the Applicants will be 

used to determine eligibility for program 

benefits. Furnishing the data is 

voluntary; however, the failure to 

provide data could result in program 

benefits being withheld or denied. 

The collection of information is vital 

to RUS to ensure compliance with the 

provisions of this Notice and to fulfill 

the requirements of the Recovery Act. 

The information collection requirements 

contained in the NOFA have been 

approved by the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) under OMB Control 

Number 0572–0142. 

The agency expects to request 

emergency clearance from OMB and to 

publish a notice seeking public 

comment on the information collection 

requirements of the Satellite, Technical 

Assistance, and Libraries programs at a 

later date. 

S. Recovery Act 

Additional information about the 

Recovery Act is available at http:// 

www.Recovery.gov. 

T. Satellite Regions 

Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 Region 5 Region 6 

State State State State State State 

Washington Montana Colorado Michigan Tennessee Maryland 

Oregon Wyoming New Mexico Indiana Mississippi Delaware 

California North Dakota Kansas Ohio Alabama New Jersey 

Nevada South Dakota Oklahoma Kentucky Georgia New York 

Idaho Nebraska Texas West Virginia Florida Connecticut 

Utah Minnesota Missouri Pennsylvania South Carolina Rhode Island 

Arizona Iowa Arkansas Virginia North Carolina Massachusetts 

Wisconsin Louisiana New Hampshire 

Illinois Vermont 

Maine 

Region Seven—Alaska 

Region Eight—Hawaii 

U. Authorized Signatories 

Only authorized grant and loan 

officers can bind the Government to the 

expenditure of funds. 

Dated: January 15, 2010. 

Jonathan Adelstein, 

Administrator, Rural Utilities Service. 

[FR Doc. 2010–1099 Filed 1–19–10; 11:15 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–15–P 


erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with NOTICES2