Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 4 - ADMINISTRATION › Part XXI - Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities › Chapter 3 - Applications › Section XXI-309 - Project Area(s) and Locations to be Served

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. Every
				application shall include the following.
1.
				Mapping and Descriptions
a. Data and
				information relating to areas proposed to be served is required in order to
				confirm that the project is serving eligible areas, to accurately score the
				application; and track progress and completion of the project if awarded. If
				documentation is deemed insufficient, the office reserves the right to request
				additional supporting documentation. If the proposed project would result in
				the provision of broadband service to areas that are not eligible for funding,
				those ineligible areas shall be identified in the application along with the
				eligible areas. An applicant is allowed to propose construction of broadband
				infrastructure to GUMBO-ineligible locations if the proposed project includes
				GUMBO-eligible locations, and the applicant reports this intention. An
				applicant may not use any GUMBO grant funding to build to these ineligible
				locations. Broadband infrastructure deployment to ineligible areas must result
				as a natural byproduct of broadband infrastructure deployment to eligible
				areas, and an applicant is not allowed to use any GUMBO grant funding for
				deployment to ineligible areas. Any potential grant awardee proposing to build
				broadband infrastructure to GUMBO-ineligible areas will be subjected to
				additional and rigorous auditing and control standards to ensure compliance
				with all applicable state and federal law. In no instance shall the number of
				ineligible locations proposed exceed 25 percent of the number of GUMBO-eligible
				locations contained within an application.
b. Data and information included shall be
				relevant to the proposed project area and include the number of prospective
				broadband recipients that will be served and have access to broadband as a
				result of the project. For the proposed area to be served, the total cost per
				prospective broadband recipient must be provided, as well as the GUMBO cost per
				prospective broadband recipient.
c.
				The office reserves the right to request any additional data and technical
				information the office deems necessary.
d. Additionally, applicants may also submit
				applications for areas where transmission speeds are advertised as reliably
				meeting or exceeding 100:20 Mbps, if indisputable data is available to
				establish, to the satisfaction of the office, at its sole discretion, that
				delivered transmission speeds are reliably less than 100:20 Mbps. Such data
				should be statistically significant and fully support the application. In no
				instance should such data provide conflicting data points.
e. Data Submission Requirements
i. Address-Level Data-data shall be submitted
				at the address level. Such individual addresses shall be submitted in shapefile
				and table format, and shall be inclusive of longitudinal and latitudinal
				coordinates, specific to each individual address. Should such an address be
				assigned a specific geolocator number or other specific identifier by the
				federal government prior to submission to the office, relative to federal
				broadband availability mapping efforts, such identifier shall be included with
				each address. Such addresses shall also be denoted by individual points within
				the shapefile. Locations projected to be served must be digitally submitted in
				a GIS shapefile or kml file format and should be georeferenced to either the
				Louisiana North State Plane NAD83 (US Feet) coordinate system or the Louisiana
				South State Plane NAD83 (US Feet) coordinate system. Service to any prospective
				broadband recipient should be referenced. Data and information submitted
				through mapping files shall match the information and data entered into the
				application. Any discrepancy in the data and information entered into the
				application and submitted in any associated files, including mapping files, may
				be grounds for administrative rejection of the application, without the
				opportunity for remedy by the applicant. The Office may provide a common data
				dictionary prior to the opening of any grant application period.
f. Additional Data Sets
i. To assist in clarifying or providing for a
				greater level of detail regarding the areas and locations to be served by a
				proposed project, additional data sets may be provided within the application.
				These data sets should serve as supporting information to the required data
				listed above and should not be submitted as an alternative. This information
				will be evaluated as supporting information, only.
Examples of additional data include, but are not limited
				  to:
* Scrubbed data (no raw data) from citizen survey results or
				  demand aggregation results, with speed tests. This data must identify the areas
				  that have less than 100:20 service.
* Affidavits from citizens or other individuals certifying
				  one or more of the following:
* they are not able to receive broadband service; or
* the only available service is cellular or satellite;
				  or
* the only broadband service available by the existing
				  providers is less than 100:20 service.