Virgin Island Stimulus Project Faces Award Suspension; Corrective Plan Demanded
Due to compliance issues, federal regulators told officials at the Virgin Island Next Generation Network, a broadband initiative funded by NTIA’s BTOP program, to stop all project work and submit an action plan before Oct. 3. Unless the compliance requirements are met, the funding will be suspended Oct. 14. The action plan will be submitted before the end of the week, said project CEO Julito Francis.
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NTIA identified programmatic, financial and grants management deficiencies during a July site visit to Virgin Islands Next Generation Network (VINGN), a subsidiary of Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority, NTIA said in a notice to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s grants office, which is assisting the NTIA in oversight and monitoring of federal broadband grants. As a result, NOAA is suspending the $58.9 million BTOP Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (CCI) award until a corrective plan of action is submitted before Oct. 3, said Arlene Porter, director of NOAA’s grants management division in a letter to VINGN. A suspension means any requests for funds will be rejected and all work on the project must stop, she said. Consideration of the suspension may be used in future funding decisions for your organization, she said. Virgin Island received four stimulus grants totaling about $70 million. The CCI award is the main grant that would fund the construction of a broadband fiber network on all four islands of the territory.
NTIA has been closely monitoring the progress of the Virgin Islands project and has concerns whether adequate financial management and internal controls are in place, a spokeswoman said. The agency will authorize the grantee to resume work “only after the agency can confirm that the grantee has taken all necessary corrective steps,” she said. The corrective plan should provide information including an organizational chart outlining roles and responsibilities of all VIGNG and Public Finance Authority staff associated with the awards, environmental regulation compliance, program income, budget information, third-party relationship management, procurement policy and matching grants information.
VINGN plans to submit its action plan before the end of the week, said Francis. The federal government’s concerns “have some elements of legitimacy,” he said. But it’s a complex project and the issues were identified during a very short visit, he said. Additionally, the network didn’t have enough staff during NTIA’s visit, which is still a major issue, he said. While the network seeks to hire Virgin Islanders, the specific skill sets required are hard to come by locally, he said. The network has hired recruiters to look for technical and financial management staff, he said. Still, he acknowledged that the network needs better procedure and management. VINGN seeks to fully comply with grant requirements and get the construction started as soon as possible, he said.
Meanwhile, NTIA has extended deadlines for three of the four grants to give the network time to put together the action plan. Now, the Public Computer Centers grant and the Sustainable Broadband Adoption grant projects must be completed by Aug. 31, 2013, and the State Broadband Data and Development project deadline is Dec. 31, 2014. Deadline for the CCI grant is the same -- June 30, 2013. That deadline can be met, Francis said.