Sec. 902. Program
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The Assistant Secretary, acting through the head of the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives, shall use the amounts made available under section 602(e) of this Act to establish within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration a program for the purposes described in subsection (c), provided that not more than 6 percent of the amounts used to establish the program may be used for salary, expenses, administration, and oversight with respect to the program.
The Assistant Secretary may use funding mechanisms, including grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts, for the effective implementation of the program. Funding made available under the program shall enable an eligible applicant to work with an eligible community anchor institution, and each eligible community with respect to the eligible community anchor institution, to develop a local broadband plan to— identify barriers to broadband deployment and adoption in order to expand the availability and adoption of broadband at the eligible community anchor institution and within each such eligible community; advance digital equity at the eligible community anchor institution and within each such eligible community; and help each such eligible community to prepare applications for funding from multiple sources, including from— the various programs authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ( Public Law 117–58 ; 135 Stat. 429); and other Federal, State, and Tribal sources of funding for broadband deployment, affordable broadband internet service, or digital equity.
A local broadband plan shall— be developed in coordination with stakeholder representatives; and with respect to support for infrastructure funding— reflect an approach that is performance-based and does not favor any particular technology, provider, or type of provider; and include— a description of the demographic profile of each applicable eligible community; an assessment of the needs of each applicable eligible community, including with respect to digital literacy, workforce development, and device access needs; a summary of current (as of the date of the most current data published by the Federal Communications Commission) service providers operating in each applicable eligible community and the broadband offerings and related services in each applicable eligible community; an estimate of capital and operational expenditures for the course of action recommended in the local broadband plan; a preliminary implementation schedule for the deployment of broadband required under the local broadband plan; and a summary of the potential employment, development, and revenue creation opportunities for the eligible community anchor institution and each applicable eligible community.
To be eligible to receive funding under the program, an eligible applicant shall submit to the Assistant Secretary, acting through the head of the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives, an application containing— the name and mailing address of the eligible applicant; the name and email address of the point of contact for the eligible applicant; documentation providing evidence that the applicant is an eligible applicant; a summary description of the proposed approach that the eligible applicant will take to expand the availability and adoption of broadband; an outline or sample of the proposed local broadband plan with respect to the funds; a draft proposal for carrying out the local broadband plan with respect to the funds, describing with specificity how funds will be used; a summary of past performance in which the eligible applicant created plans similar to the local broadband plan for communities similar to each applicable eligible community; a description of the approach the eligible applicant will take to engage each applicable eligible community and the applicable eligible community anchor institution and report outcomes relating to that engagement; a description of how the eligible applicant will meet the short-term and long-term goals described in subsection (h)(2)(A); and a certification that the applicant is not a recipient of a covered planning grant.
The Assistant Secretary, acting through the head of the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives, shall publish a notice for the program not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. When selecting an eligible applicant to receive funding under the program, the Assistant Secretary may give preference or priority to an eligible applicant, the application of which, if awarded, would enable a greater number of eligible communities to be served. Not later than 540 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, acting through the head of the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives, shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report, which the Assistant Secretary, acting through the head of the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives, shall make available to the public.
The report described in paragraph
(1)shall include, for the period covered by the report— the number of eligible applicants that submitted applications under the program; the number of eligible applicants that received funding under the program; a summary of the funding amounts made available to eligible applicants under the program and the list of eligible community anchor institutions the eligible applicants propose to serve; the number of eligible communities that ultimately received funding or financing to promote broadband adoption and to deploy broadband in the eligible community under the program; information determined necessary by the Assistant Secretary to measure progress toward the goals described in subsection (h)(2)(A) and assess whether the goals described in such subsection are being met; and an identification of each eligible applicant that received funds through the program and a description of the progress each eligible applicant has made toward accomplishing the purpose of the program, as described in subsection (c). Not later than 90 days after the date on which the Assistant Secretary provides public notice of the program, the Assistant Secretary, in consultation with the head of the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives, shall issue the Notice of Funding Opportunity governing the program. In the notice required under paragraph (1), the Assistant Secretary shall— establish short-term and long-term goals for eligible applicants that receive funds under the program; establish performance metrics by which to evaluate whether an entity has met the goals described in subparagraph (A); and identify the selection criteria described in subsection
(f)that the Assistant Secretary will use to award funds under the program if demand for funds under the program exceeds the amount appropriated for carrying out the program. The Inspector General of the Department of Commerce (referred to in this subsection as the Inspector General ) shall conduct an audit of the program in order to— ensure that eligible applicants use funds awarded under the program in accordance with— the requirements of this title; and the purposes of the program, as described in subsection (c); and prevent waste, fraud, abuse, and improper payments. The Assistant Secretary shall revoke funds awarded to an eligible applicant that is not in compliance with the requirements of this section or the purposes of the program, as described in subsection (c). Each finding of waste, fraud, abuse, or an improper payment by the Inspector General in an audit under paragraph
(1)shall include the following: The name of the eligible applicant. The amount of funding made available under the program to the eligible applicant. The amount of funding determined to be an improper payment made to an eligible applicant involved in the waste, fraud, abuse, or improper payment. Not later than 7 days after the date of a finding described under paragraph (3), the Inspector General shall concurrently notify the Assistant Secretary, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives of the information described in that paragraph. In issuing rules under this subsection, the Assistant Secretary shall— designate an entity within the program office to lead fraud risk management activities; ensure the entity designated under subparagraph
(A)has defined responsibilities and the necessary authority to serve its role; conduct risk-based monitoring and evaluation of fraud risk management activities with a focus on outcome measurement; collect and analyze data from reporting mechanisms and instances of detected fraud for real-time monitoring of fraud trends; use the results of the monitoring, evaluations, and investigations to improve fraud prevention, detection, and response; plan regular fraud risk assessments and assess risks to determine a fraud risk profile; develop, document, and communicate an anti-fraud strategy, focusing on preventative control activities; consider the benefits and costs of controls to prevent and detect potential fraud, and develop a fraud response plan; and establish collaborative relationships with stakeholders and create incentives to help ensure effective implementation of the anti-fraud strategy described in subparagraph (G).
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- 135 Stat. 429
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