关于btop的第四季度状态报告大会

Submitted to the Committee on AppropriationsUnited States Senate the Committee on AppropriationsUnited States House of Representatives the Committee on Commerce, Science and TransportationUnited States Senate and the Committee on Energy and CommerceUnited States House of Representatives February 2010 National Telecommunications and Information AdministrationU.S. Department of Commerce Pursuant to Section 6001(d)(4) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009(Recovery Act or Act) (Public Law No. 111-5), the National Telecommunications andInformation Administration (NTIA) provides this quarterly report on the status of the BroadbandTechnology Opportunities Program (BTOP). The Recovery Act provides NTIA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural UtilitiesService (RUS) with $7.2 billion to expand access to broadband services in the United States.The Act provides $4.7 billion to NTIA to establish the Broadband Technology OpportunitiesProgram (BTOP or Program) to increase broadband penetration and adoption in unserved andunderserved areas of the United States; provide broadband training and support to schools,libraries, healthcare providers, and other organizations; improve broadband access to publicsafety agencies; and stimulate demand for broadband. In addition, the $4.7 billion in fundingprovided under the Act is intended to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. The Act alsoprovided $2.5 billion to the RUS for the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP).1 The Act establishes eligibility requirements for grantees and grant projects; allocates certainamounts of funding for specifically-identified broadband initiatives; imposes substantive andprocedural requirements on the Assistant Secretary for the administration of the program as wellas on grantees in their use of BTOP funding; and requires that all awards be made before the endof fiscal year 2010. The Act further requires NTIA to develop and maintain a comprehensivenationwide inventory map of broadband service capability and availability, and to make the mappublicly available via the Internet. Among other things, the Assistant Secretary is required to provide a status report to Congressevery 90 days. NTIA will supplement these reports with informal briefings for Members ofCongress as well as appearances at Congressional hearings when requested. This quarterly statusreport reviews developments since NTIA submitted its third report on November 16, 2009.2 II.Summary Since the passage of the Recovery Act, NTIA has worked expeditiously to ensure that BTOPfunds are distributed quickly, efficiently, and fairly. In the previous three reports submitted toCongress, NTIA outlined the following procedural and administrative steps taken to launchBTOP in accordance with the Recovery Act’s requirements: •Program kickoff in cooperation with other Federal agencies;•Public outreach;•Efforts to enhance transparency and accountability;•Release of the first Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA); •Public workshops to enhance participation by eligible entities;•Preparations to accept and evaluate applications;•Steps to improve NTIA’s organizational readiness;•Application review, including independent expert review, State and Tribal consultation,and public notice filing comment period;•Updated schedule for the first funding round;•Preparations for the second NOFA, including issuance of a second Request forInformation;•Oversight and compliance; and•Staffing and resources. This report focuses on: first round application review; first round grant awards; issuance of thesecond NOFA, including changes from the first NOFA; steps taken to ensure sufficient oversightand compliance; and efforts to ensure sufficient staffing and resources. This report also providesan update on the State Broadband Data and Development Program (Broadband MappingProgram), including an update on awards made and other steps taken to develop a nationalbroadband map. III.First Round Application Review In the first round, NTIA and the Agriculture Department’s RUS issued a joint BIP/BTOP NOFAto promote coordination between these programs. BTOP funds were made available throughthree categories of eligible projects: Broadband Infrastructure (including Last Mile and MiddleMile projects), Public Computer Centers, and Sustainable Broadband Adoption. In response to the first NOFA, the two agencies received almost 2,200 applications requestingnearly $28 billion in funding for proposed broadband projects reaching all states, five territories,and the District of Columbia. NTIA employed a multi-step review process for first round BTOP applications. It firstconducted an initial screen of applications to determine whether an application met the eligibilityrequirements defined in the NOFA. Eligible applications then proceeded to the “Step One”review process, where they received at least three independent reviews against the eligibilityfactors and the evaluation criteria established in the NOFA.3