Contrary to what has been reported elsewhere today, the Nevada County Connected project’s ARRA stimulus broadband grant application is still in the running for Federal funding. The project has been in due diligence for the past four weeks. The application moved to due diligence because it was considered a “project of merit” by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). This is a huge step forward in the process of successful funding. Currently, the team of John Paul and Chip Carman of Spiral Internet with Gil Mathew of the Nevada County Economic Resource Council have been hunkered down responding to questions from a NTIA team of six people. That team is assigned to help us “fine tune” our submission. Once we complete due diligence, we will move into the “evaluation/decision” phase. They will act as our advocates. We are cautiously optimistic at this point.
A regional project we have partnered with, named Central Valley Next-Generation Broadband Infrastructure Project, just completed due diligence. The ARRA Round 2 application and funding process continues into September. A number of California projects will undoubtedly move forward and be funded.
The “Broadband Award Roster” that was announced today is related to the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the Department of Commerce’s NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). The first 66 projects included none from California. The Nevada County Connected’s application was submitted to BTOP under their Comprehensive Community Infrastructure funding program. The Round 2 ARRA grant is proceeding through September of this year.
Recent Comments