关于btop的第三季度状态报告

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 November 16, 2009 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). Title VI of the Recovery Act directs the Assistant Secretary for Communications andInformation (Assistant Secretary), in consultation with the Federal Communications Commission(FCC), to establish a grant program designed to increase broadband penetration and adoption inunserved and underserved areas of the United States; provide broadband training and support toschools, libraries, healthcare providers, and other organizations; improve broadband access topublic safety agencies; and stimulate demand for broadband. In addition, the $4.7 billion infunding provided under the Act is intended to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. 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. For example,NTIA’s Assistant Secretary recently testified before theCommittee on Commerce, Science andTransportation of the United States Senate on October 27, 2009, as well as a Subcommittee ofthe Committee on Energy and Commerce of the United States House of Representatives onSeptember 10, 2009. This quarterly status report reviews developments since NTIA submittedits second report on August 17, 2009.1 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 two reports submitted toCongress, NTIA outlined the following procedural and administrative steps taken to launchBTOP in accordance with the RecoveryAct’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; andOther steps to improve NTIA’s organizational readiness. This report focuses on: efforts to accept and process applications; the application review process;preparations for the second funding round; and steps to ensure appropriate oversight andcompliance of BTOP grants. This report also provides an update on the State Broadband Dataand Development Program, including applications received, awards made, and other steps takento develop a national broadband map. III.First Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) On July 1, 2009, NTIA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS)released the first NOFA describing the availability of funds and application requirements forBTOP and the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP).2The NOFA provided detailed informationregarding eligibility, definitions, award terms, application submission, evaluation and selection,and award administration to the disbursement of BTOP funding in the first round. NTIA andRUS also unveiled a shared website–atwww.broadbandusa.gov–to make relevant informationpublicly available regarding BTOP and BIP funds and to accept applications. Up to $1.6 billion in BTOP funds are available in the first grant round. Consistent with theappropriation, first round BTOP funding is divided into three categories of projects. Up to $1.2billion is available in the Broadband Infrastructure category to fund projects that deliverbroadband service through Last Mile or Middle Mile facilities to unserved and underservedareas. Up to $50 million is available in the Public Computer Center category to fund projectsthat expand computer center capacity at entities that permit the public to use these computercenters, such as community colleges and public libraries.