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Commerce, equity office and industry warn BEAD guidance changes force a fast state refile
Summary
Department of Commerce officials told lawmakers that new NTIA guidance on the BEAD program requires Washington to assemble an expedited state application by Sept. 4 and that some previously emphasized criteria were removed; the state is also transitioning the Digital Equity Forum back to the Broadband Office.
Washington’s Department of Commerce on Tuesday told state lawmakers that new federal guidance for the BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) program requires an expedited state application and may change which projects are most competitive, leaving officials to rework previously submitted proposals.
Dave Pringle, policy and legislative director at the Department of Commerce, said the state has roughly 30 days to help applicants update or repackage submissions and that the department aims to return a state BEAD application to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) by Sept. 4. "We were awarded over a billion dollars from the federal government to expand broadband," Pringle told the committee, adding that the latest NTIA guidance removes several previously emphasized elements such as labor and open‑access requirements and changes scoring priorities. He said Commerce is hosting weekly office hours with applicants as the agency and applicants adapt to the new guidance.
The change affects projects…
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