Oct. 14 NTIA Deadline for State Review Has Teams Scrambling

The deadline for completion of this round of state review is proving hard to meet in Florida, Sterling Ivey, press secretary to Gov. Charlie Christ, a Republican, told us by e-mail. “Given the number of applications for our state, it will be very difficult, as this is also the time when states must complete our first quarterly reporting to OMB and the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board,” Ivey said. “However, we take this effort seriously and will meet the deadline.”

Florida’s review team received 126 applications from the NTIA, including three that were “clearly misclassified as they had no Florida proposed funded service area,” Ivey said. The other 123 applications include 49 for last mile and middle mile infrastructure, 17 for public computer centers and 57 for sustainable adoption, he said. Estimated costs range from $21,200 for a computer center at Advent Christian Village to a Hughes Network Systems request for nearly $500 million.

More applications involving Florida came from private bodies than from public institutions or public/private partnerships, Ivey said. The state’s Office of Economic Recovery has been requesting information from applicants and organizing the applications for reviewers.

A state broadband working group that was already running is handling Florida’s NTIA review. Members of the group, all state employees, represent economic development, health care, education, public libraries, public safety, and public and not-for-profit consumers of state-provided telecom services.

“We are applying NTIA’s criterion of ‘greatest needs’ to make sure that NTIA is aware of priorities for broadband investment in our state,” Ivey said. “We will also provide comments about Florida-specific needs and local information that NTIA should have.”

Differences in the amount of information provided -- some files from private applicants are “significantly redacted” -- could prevent judging applications side by side and setting priorities for each area, Ivey said. The most difficult part of doing reviews has been seeking useful information from some of the private applicants, the Florida official told us.

“In some cases, we are also getting minimal information about national applications and how they may affect Florida,” Ivey said. “We would also have appreciated getting information that NTIA cannot make available to us.” Specifically, the state team would have liked access to NTIA expert reviewers’ scores and comments, as well as to information about coverage area challenges, he said. State officials expect to “learn a lot about applicants’ perception of needs for broadband development in Florida and we hope to pick up some interesting approaches that can be applied to Rounds 2 and 3,” Ivey said.

Oklahoma has been pressing NTIA to clarify the broadband process and states’ role in it, Secretary of State Susan Savage told us by e-mail. Given NTIA statements about states’ rankings not being given much weight, “my understanding is most states are now seeking clarification on that point and trying to determine how best to proceed,” Savage said. Oklahoma’s review team blends educational, technical and private sector expertise, Savage said. For this round 102 applications have been submitted from Oklahoma, including urban, rural, tribal and private projects, she said.

“Oklahoma’s broadband team views its role to advise the Governor and NTIA on a priority listing of those applications that will have the greatest impact on unserved or underserved areas throughout the state,” Savage said. “If NTIA advises that a state’s comments will have little or no bearing on their decisions, as has been recently suggested, the working group will consider if there is any value in commenting on applications.”

Some state officials taking part in the application review have said they would have liked additional detail more quickly, said Brad Ramsay, general counsel for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. But he said he knows of at least one state that started early on its work, contacted applicants and has had no trouble getting the extra information it wanted to complete its assessments for the NTIA.

“Considering the number and type of applications that NTIA has been sending states, the task is not so large as to be overwhelming,” Ramsay said. “NTIA is asking the states to point out which applications seem to be best suited to filling in holes in broadband coverage and to complementing the existing state program. Anybody can always use more time, but it’s doable.”