The Colorado Broadband Office (CBO) told the Joint Technology Committee on June 11 that after three years of program design and two grant rounds, the federal National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued new policy directives that require Colorado to reopen BEAD‑related rounds and change selection criteria.

“On January 6, the NTIA issued new policy directives,” Executive Director Brandy Ryder said. The NTIA direction removed a “fiber‑first” preference and other state‑level criteria, required a new “benefit‑of‑the‑bargain” round that prioritizes the least‑expensive technology that covers the most locations, and shortened the timeline for states to update and re‑submit proposals.

Why this matters: Colorado had prepared a state BEAD plan and ran two preliminary grant rounds that produced many applications. Under the new federal directives, CBO must rework rubrics, reissue eligible location lists, reopen an application window and perform new technical reviews on a compressed schedule. The changes will delay some construction into 2026 and increase program administrative costs.

Federal award and demand: Ryder said Colorado’s BEAD allocation is about $826.5 million and that the state received 281 applications for rounds 1 and 2 requesting roughly $2.4 billion in project funding; applicants proposed about $676 million in local matching funds. CBO said the statewide unserved count is about 121,345 locations and that prior to the NTIA change the office proposed covering a large share of unserved and underserved locations.

NTIA changes and timing: Ryder said NTIA removed several evaluation factors the state had used, including a fiber preference, fair‑labor and workforce requirements, and climate‑resilience scoring. NTIA directed states to prioritize lower‑cost technologies that cover the most locations and set a 90‑day timeline (from the June 6 policy issuance) for states to reissue their applications and make preliminary awards; Colorado must submit final proposals to NTIA by Sept. 4, 2025. Ryder told the committee the state’s updated eligible location file will be published before the end of June and that the application window will open in early July.

Practical impacts: Ryder and staff estimated additional administrative costs of $2.2–$2.5 million to re‑run the BEAD rounds because CBO must contract technical reviewers and perform more application-level engineering reviews. Ryder said some applicant and industry workforce costs—tens of millions of dollars for application preparation—are now “sunken” because initial application costs are not reimbursable in the new NTIA approach.

Other federal programs and related changes: Ryder also updated the committee on related programs: Colorado’s ARPA Capital Projects Fund awards (about $113 million) are underway; the state’s digital equity capacity grant (initially ~$12 million federal allocation) was terminated by NTIA on May 9; and other federal programs such as the Affordable Connectivity Program and RDOF were discussed as having influenced local provider plans.

Committee reaction: Committee members expressed frustration over the added delay and the potential quality tradeoffs if lower‑cost technologies are prioritized. Representative Pascal asked how prioritizing the cheapest technology could leave communities with solutions that require earlier replacement; Ryder warned the committee that fixed wireless and satellite solutions can be easier to deploy but typically have shorter service lifetimes than buried fiber.

Ending: CBO said it will publish the updated eligible‑locations list and open the benefit‑of‑the‑bargain application window in early July; the committee requested follow‑up briefings on the new timelines and on projected coverage, technology types proposed, and costs to replace shorter‑lived solutions in later years.