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How To Get A Grant: Part 2(A)
UNDER ROUND 2 OF THE NTIA BROADBAND TECHNOLOGYOPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM (BTOP)
NTIA: BTOP
Introduction
This is the second part of the MuniWireless How to Get a Grant Guide. The first part, published in July 2009, covered Round 1 of broadband stimulus funding by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Rural Utilities Service(RUS). NTIA runs the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and RUS runs the Broadband Initiatives Program(BIP). They are the agencies designated by Congress to give out money for broadband projects targeted at underserved andunserved areas in the United States. The NTIA and RUS have changed the rules for Round 2. Because many people found the Round 1 rules burdensome, and theagencies themselves could not cope with the volume of applications, they decided to streamline the Round 2 application processand raise barriers to reduce the number of applicants. This guide contains a summary of the new rules for the NTIA’s BTOP Round 2, with a few commentaries.If you are serious about turning in an application,
you must read the official rules, which you can download fromwww.broadbandusa.gov.
The official rules are written in a bureaucratic language that sounds strange to most people, whichmakes them difficult to read. The NTIA’s Notice of Funds Availability or NOFA (in plain English, “rules you have to follow to getmoney from them”) runs to 116 pages (in its double-spaced US Letter format). In the race for bureaucratic excess, the RUScame up short, clocking in with only 68 pages.Since this is a typical Federal government production, it is brimming with acronyms. Hence, I start with a Guide to Acronyms.
Guide to Acronyms
NTIA: National Telecommunications and Information AdministrationRUS: Rural Utilities ServiceBTOP: Broadband Technology Opportunities ProgramBIP: Broadband Initiatives ProgramNOFA: Notice of Funds AvailabilityCCI: Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (“Middle Mile”)PCC: Public Computer CentersSBA: Sustainable Broadband AdoptionOTIA: Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications
Money matters
In Round 2, the NTIA has divided up $2.6 billion among three types of projects:
$2.35 billion
for Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (“Middle Mile” projects)
$150 million
for Public Computer Centers
$100 million
for Sustainable Broadband Adoption
How to Get a Grant Guide Part 2 (A): NTIA/BTOP
30 JANUARY 2010 MUNIWIRELESS.COM -- HOW TO GET A GRANT GUIDE FROM THE NTIA AND RUS: PART 2
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Changes to the BTOP Rules
•Separate applications for BTOP and BIP: In Round 1, applicants were forced to file one application for both. In Round 2,applicants must choose between BTOP and BIP.•Urban areas actually have a chance of winning grants for middle mile projects.• Three categories of BTOP eligible projects:•Comprehensive Community Infrastructure or “Middle Mile”: projects that provide new or upgraded connections tocommunity anchor institutions, especially community colleges.•Public Computer Centers: projects that improve broadband capacity at places that allow the public to use computers. These include public libraries and community colleges.•Sustainable Broadband Adoption: projects that promote broadband demand and provide training, equipment or supportto people who, despite the dazzling array of cool applications and gadgets (latest of which is the Apple iPad), need to bedragged kicking and screaming into (Al Gore’s) Information Superhighway. Projects that turn these people into Internetfanatics stand a very good chance of getting money.•Come up with matching (cash) funds: the minimum is 20 percent of the project’s costs. If you can raise 30 percent or more,you get priority.•Easier to get to the due diligence review stage: you have to meet only three criteria -- (a) be an eligible entity, (b) complete theapplication and show that you have outside funding. If you pass, yo get to the due diligence review.• To reduce the paperwork burden in the initial stage, NTIA removed the technical feasibility and budget reasonableness tests. These factors will be considered during the due diligence review.•NTIA will use 2 instead of 3 reviewers to speed up the review process.•Eliminated proposed funded service area mapping tool and changed service area delineations from Census Blocks to Census Tracts and Block Groups.•Reduced the number of attachments you need to submit with your application.• You must file electronically:https://www.applyonline.broadbandusa.gov
Deadlines
Application period: 16 February 2010, 8:00 (EST) - 15 March 2010, 17:00 (EST)Date of awards: NTIA plans to start announcing grant winners in June 2010. Allow for delays. They need to award all the moneyby 30 September 2010.
How to Get a Grant Guide Part 2 (A): NTIA/BTOP
30 JANUARY 2010 MUNIWIRELESS.COM -- HOW TO GET A GRANT GUIDE FROM THE NTIA AND RUS: PART 2
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