[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 96 (Wednesday, May 19, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27984-27986]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-11898]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

[Docket No.: 0907141137-0222-10]
RIN 0660-ZA28


Broadband Technology Opportunities Program

AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Funds Availability; Reopening of Application Filing 
Window for Broadband Technology Opportunities Program Comprehensive 
Community Infrastructure Projects.

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SUMMARY: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
(NTIA) announces the limited reopening of the Comprehensive Community 
Infrastructure (CCI) application filing window for the Broadband 
Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) that the agency established 
pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 
(Recovery Act). Entities that have received waiver authority from the 
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to use the 763-768/793-798 MHz 
(700 MHz) public safety broadband spectrum by the date of this Notice 
are invited to file a BTOP application and request BTOP funding.

DATES: All applications for funding CCI projects under this Notice must 
be submitted between June 1, 2010, at 8 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time 
(EDT) and July 1, 2010, at 5 p.m. EDT.

ADDRESSES: All applicants are required to submit their applications 
electronically at https://applyonline.broadbandusa.gov. See 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for more details. The CCI application package 
for electronic submissions is available at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa/ broadbandusa/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general inquiries regarding BTOP, 
contact Anthony G. Wilhelm, PhD, Director, BTOP, Office of 
Telecommunications and Information Applications, NTIA, U.S. Department 
of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW., HCHB, Room 4887, 
Washington, DC 20230; BTOP Help Desk e-mail: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a1c3d5ced1e1cfd5c8c08fc5cec28fc6ced7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2042544f50604e5449410e444f430e474f56">[email protected]</span></a>; BTOP 
Help Desk telephone: 1-202-482-2048. Additional information regarding 
BTOP, including information regarding compliance issues, may be 
obtained at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa/.

    Authority: This Notice is issued pursuant to the American 
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. 111-5, 123 Stat. 115 
(2009).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

A. Second Round of BTOP Funding

    On January 22, 2010, NTIA published a Notice of Funds Availability 
and Solicitation of Applications (Second NOFA) in the Federal Register 
announcing general policy and application procedures for the second 
round of BTOP funding.\1\ The filing deadline for CCI applications 
under the Second NOFA closed on March 26, 2010.\2\ Under the Recovery 
Act, one of the core purposes of BTOP is to fund the advancement of 
broadband initiatives to support public safety agencies.\3\ The 
Recovery Act also provides that the Assistant Secretary for 
Communications and Information may make competitive grants to 
``construct and deploy broadband facilities that improve public safety 
broadband communications services.'' \4\ While NTIA received a limited 
number of public safety-related applications in the second round, some 
applicants may have been deterred from filing because, inter alia, they 
lacked the legal authority to use the 700 MHz public safety broadband 
spectrum.
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    \1\ Notice of Funds Availability and Solicitation of 
Applications, 75 FR 3792 (Jan. 22, 2010).
    \2\ Notice of Funds Availability; Extension of Application 
Closing Deadline for Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (CCI) 
Projects, 75 FR 10464 (Mar. 8, 2010); Notice of Funds Availability; 
Extension of Application Closing Deadline for Comprehensive 
Community Infrastructure (CCI) Projects, 75 FR 14131 (Mar. 24, 
2010).
    \3\ American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 
No. 111-5, Sec.  6001(b), 123 Stat. 115, 512-13 (2009) (Recovery 
Act).
    \4\ Id. Sec.  6001(g)(5), 123 Stat. at 514.
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B. Reopening the Application Window

    On May 11, 2010, the FCC adopted an order authorizing the early 
deployment of public safety broadband networks in the 700 MHz public 
safety broadband spectrum for a number of entities that had petitioned 
for waiver authority for such relief.\5\ To further the objectives of 
the Recovery Act and to help ensure that the core statutory purposes of 
BTOP are achieved, NTIA finds that, given these extraordinary 
circumstances, a limited reopening of the CCI application filing window 
is in the best interest of the federal government.\6\ Accordingly, NTIA 
reopens the CCI application filing window to those entities that meet 
the eligibility criteria in the Second NOFA and that have received 
authority from the FCC by the date of this Notice to seek to use the 
700 MHz public safety broadband spectrum to deploy a public safety 
broadband system.\7\ NTIA is limiting eligibility under this Notice to 
this group of entities to help ensure that all BTOP grant funds can be 
obligated by the statutory deadline of September 30, 2010; \8\ to 
provide the public safety community with the opportunity to obtain 
funding for an initial set of networks to support current NTIA efforts 
to test new standards and technologies that eventually will support a 
nationwide interoperable public safety broadband network; and to 
provide an opportunity to submit an application to entities that may 
have been discouraged from applying for BTOP funding because they did 
not have the legal authority to use the 700 MHz spectrum. Entities that 
received a FCC waiver and that already have applied for the second 
round of BTOP funding are not required to reapply during this new 
window.
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    \5\ Requests for Waiver of Various Petitioners to Allow the 
Establishment of 700 MHz Interoperable Public Safety Wireless 
Broadband Networks, Order, PS Dkt. No. 06-229, FCC 10-79 (adopted 
May 11, 2010) (Waiver Order), available at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-79A1.pdf.
    \6\ In the Second NOFA, NTIA anticipated that it might wish to 
reopen the application window at some point in the future and 
specifically put applicants on notice that there may be another 
solicitation. See Second NOFA, 75 FR at 3799.
    \7\ See Waiver Order, at Appendix A.
    \8\ See Recovery Act Sec.  6001(d)(2), 123 Stat. at 513.
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C. 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband Network

    A public safety broadband network utilizing the 700 MHz public 
safety broadband spectrum will increase the nationwide interoperable 
broadband communications capabilities of first responders and public 
safety agencies by improving the ability of public safety entities to 
utilize applications made

[[Page 27985]]

possible by broadband technologies. It also will improve public safety 
communications by providing dedicated broadband capacity for public 
safety uses and creating a statutorily required interoperability 
framework for use across the United States. The FCC's National 
Broadband Plan recognized that broadband technologies have the 
potential to revolutionize emergency response wireless mobile 
communications and outlined recommendations for moving 700 MHz spectrum 
activities forward.\9\ Consistent with the FCC's recommendation, NTIA 
and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are 
working on a joint initiative, the Public Safety 700 MHz Demonstration 
Network within the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) 
program, to provide a platform to test and evaluate systems and to help 
enable deployment of a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband 
network.\10\ This limited reopening of the BTOP CCI application filing 
window will help support the efforts of NTIA and NIST and the testing, 
development, and implementation of a 700 MHz public safety broadband 
network.
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    \9\ Federal Communications Commission (FCC) National Broadband 
Plan, ch. 16 (March 17, 2010), available at http://download.broadband.gov/plan/national-broadband-plan-chapter-16-public-safety.pdf.
    \10\ See Public Safety Communications Research, Projects, at 
http://www.pscr.gov/projects/broadband/700mhz/700mhz.php.
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    Pursuant to the eligible cost provisions set forth in the Second 
NOFA, NTIA may award grants that will fund critical expenditures 
related to the deployment of a 700 MHz public safety broadband network, 
including the acquisition of broadband radio access network components 
(such as antennas, base station nodes, transceivers, amplifiers, and 
remote radio heads) and costs associated with the hardening of existing 
cell sites (such as installing backup power and enhancing security 
measures).\11\ Grant awards also may be used to fund costs to lease 
wireline or wireless network infrastructure from existing commercial 
infrastructure to facilitate broadband connectivity for a 700 MHz 
public safety broadband network, including backhaul from cell sites and 
any associated installation charges paid to a vendor.
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    \11\ See Second NOFA, 75 FR at 3799.
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    By facilitating the expansion of broadband communications services 
to public safety agencies, BTOP advances the objectives of the Recovery 
Act to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances, 
to invest in infrastructure that will provide long-term economic 
benefits, and to support stabilization of state and local government 
budgets in an effort to avoid reductions in essential services. 
Deployment of a public safety broadband network in the 700 MHz band 
also will enhance emergency response capabilities through support of 
broadband-enabled applications, including: streaming video 
(surveillance, remote monitoring); digital imaging; automatic vehicle 
location; computer-aided dispatching; electronic mail; mapping and GPS; 
remote database access; report management system access; text 
messaging; telemetry/remote diagnostics; and Web access.
    Moreover, the 700 MHz public safety broadband network will support 
applications that existing narrowband and wideband data technologies 
cannot support. The network will allow public safety personnel to 
exchange mission-critical information in real time on a common 
operating platform, enhancing incident response and first-responder 
safety.

D. FCC 700 MHz Waiver Order

    In 2007, the FCC chose the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corporation 
(PSST) as the Public Safety Broadband Licensee for the 10 MHz of 700 
MHz public safety broadband spectrum.\12\ On May 11, 2010, the FCC 
adopted an order that permits certain state and local governmental 
entities to deploy public safety broadband systems using the 700 MHz 
spectrum licensed to the PSST.\13\ The FCC's order now allows these 
entities to expeditiously enter into leases with the PSST for use and 
development of public safety broadband networks. Applicants filing 
under this Notice are subject to the provisions of the FCC's order and 
any subsequent rules adopted by the FCC regarding the use of 700 MHz 
spectrum, including those rules that are designed to ensure 
compatibility and interoperability of public safety networks.\14\
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    \12\ Implementing a Nationwide, Broadband, Interoperable Public 
Safety Network in the 700 MHz Band, Order, 22 F.C.C. Rcd. 20453 
(2007).
    \13\ See Waiver Order.
    \14\ Id. at 12-13. For example, the FCC requires the entities 
subject to the order to adhere to the technical criteria that the 
Emergency Response Interoperability Center will establish through 
rules adopted by the FCC or the Public Safety and Homeland Security 
Bureau.
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    By reopening the CCI application window only to eligible entities 
that have received waiver authority from the FCC to enter into a lease 
to use 700 MHz spectrum, NTIA acknowledges that these entities may have 
been discouraged from filing a BTOP application during the first two 
BTOP funding rounds because they did not have the legal authority to 
use the spectrum before the filing deadlines. Because applicants filing 
under this Notice will be subject to the same general policies and 
terms as other CCI applicants in the second round, this limited 
reopening will not advantage or disadvantage either those entities 
eligible under this Notice or those that have filed applications 
earlier under the Second NOFA.

II. Application and Submission Information

A. Second NOFA Requirements

    All applicants submitting BTOP applications pursuant to this Notice 
are subject to the requirements set forth in the Recovery Act and the 
Second NOFA. In addition, applicants should review the application 
guidance, workshop presentations, and ``Frequently Asked Questions'' 
located at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa/ to help them submit 
their applications and understand BTOP requirements. As required by the 
CCI application, applicants must provide documentation that their 
request for a waiver authorizing use of the 700 MHz public safety 
spectrum has been granted by the FCC. NTIA will reject applications 
from entities other than those who are authorized to use the 700 MHz 
public safety broadband spectrum.

B. Filing Deadline

    The application window will be open for filing between June 1, 
2010, at 8 a.m. EDT and July 1, 2010, at 5 p.m. EDT. NTIA recognizes 
that this is a short application window given the complexity of CCI 
projects, particularly if they include a 700 MHz component. 
Nevertheless, to ensure that NTIA can fairly administer the program, 
comply with the requirements set forth in the Second NOFA, and obligate 
funds before September 30, 2010, NTIA will limit the filing window to 
this period.

C. Filing Instructions

    As stated in the Second NOFA, 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 are required to submit their applications electronically 
at https://applyonline.broadbandusa.gov. The electronic application 
system will provide a date-and-time-stamped confirmation number that 
will serve as proof of submission. Please note that applications will 
not be accepted via paper, facsimile machine transmission,

[[Page 27986]]

electronic mail, or other media format. Applicants, however, may 
request a waiver of these filing instructions pursuant to Section X.N. 
of the Second NOFA.\15\
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    \15\ Additional guidance for seeking a waiver of the electronic 
filing requirements can be found in the CCI Grant Guidance at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa/. Note that the CCI Grant Guidance 
includes key submission dates. These dates have been superseded by 
the dates contained in this Notice.

    Dated: May 13, 2010.
Anna M. Gomez,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information.
[FR Doc. 2010-11898 Filed 5-18-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-60-P


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