West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 208 - Broadband Deployment Council › Title 208 - LEGISLATIVE RULE BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT COUNCIL › Series 208-01 - Broadband Deployment Council › Section 208-1-6 - Application Evaluation

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
6.1. During the
				thirty days that follow the sixty-day required public notice period, the
				Council shall review all applications for completeness and conformance with the
				statute, this rule, and the instructions provided with the application forms.
6.2 The Council shall reject an
				application that is incomplete or not in conformance with the statute, this
				rule, and the instructions provided with the application forms.
6.3 The Council shall not approve any project
				for broadband services that does not provide transmission rates for broadband
				service as defined in W. Va. Code §
									31-15C-2 and specified in W. Va. Code
				§
									31-15C-9.
6.4. The Council
				shall not duplicate or displace broadband service in areas already served or
				where private industry feasibly can be expected to offer services in the
				reasonably foreseeable future.
6.5.
				Projects for grant awards may involve or require the placement of
				infrastructure within or through areas served by existing broadband services,
				however, an award recipient may not use grant moneys to build out, or provide,
				broadband services within those areas already served. Applicants and award
				recipients must be able to segregate project funds by funding source and may
				only apply Council grant funds toward the provision of services to unserved
				areas.
6.6. The Council may reject
				any application on the basis of the amount of funding sought; request the
				applicant to revise its application and resubmit it in a future grant cycle;
				award more or less than the full amount requested in the application; or
				require overlapping applications to coordinate in the provision of service to
				the public.
6.7. The Council shall
				evaluate broadband infrastructure applications based on the following criteria:
6.7.a. The cost-effectiveness of the
				project;
6.7.b. The economic
				development benefits of the project;
6.7.c. The availability of alternative
				sources of funding that could help finance the project, including, but not
				limited to, private grants or federal funding and the efforts undertaken to
				obtain that funding;
6.7.d. If the
				project requires the construction of a network, the applicant's experience
				operating and maintaining such network;
6.7.e. The extent to which the project
				advances statewide broadband access and other state broadband planning
				goals;
6.7.f. The proposed
				technologies, bandwidths, upstream data rates and downstream data rates and
				downstream-to-upstream data ratios;
6.7.g. The planned date the project would
				commence and the planned date the project would be completed;
6.7.h. The amount of financial assistance
				sought;
6.7.i. The long-term
				financial sustainability of the proposed project;
6.7.j. The amount of matching funds provided
				by the applicant;
6.7.k. How the
				proposed project compares with other proposals for the same unserved area with
				regard to number of people served, the amount of financial assistance sought,
				and the long-term sustainability of the proposed project; and
6.7.l. Any other criteria the Council
				considers necessary and prudent.