Oregon Broadband Office outlines major federal awards, tight BEAD timeline and spending limitations

Nick Batts, director of the Oregon Broadband Office at Business Oregon, told the Transportation and Economic Development Subcommittee the office administers statewide broadband programs and is funded by lottery, other state funds and federal grants.

Batts said Oregon received $157,000,000 from the U.S. Treasury—s ARPA Capital Projects Fund and has made awards to reach roughly 13,413 locations in 17 counties for the Broadband Deployment Program. He cautioned that ARPA Capital Projects Fund work has a fast federal deadline — all funds must be obligated and infrastructure operational by Dec. 31, 2026 — and said the program team is pushing to meet that timeline.

Nut graf: The Broadband Office presented three large federal funding streams and asked the subcommittee for spending‑limitation authority for next biennium to run multi‑project grant programs that will be front‑loaded and reimbursable.

On the larger federal program, Batts said the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program (BEAD) — the federal BEAD program established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — allocates roughly $688.9 million to Oregon. He described a compressed schedule: prequalification closed February 12–March 14 with dozens of applicants; subgrantee selection is expected to begin April 15; and a final proposal that assigns projects to subgrantees is due to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) by June 10. Batts said Oregon will ask NTIA for an extension because the final proposal timeline is short.

Batts said BEAD subgrantees will have four years from contract assignment to build and activate broadband infrastructure. He also described the Digital Equity State Capacity Grant program, noting an expected initial 2024 allocation of about $9.9 million for Oregon to implement its state digital equity plan and to support covered populations.

The Broadband Office—s spending‑limitation requests included an estimated $278.1 million in federal fund expenditure limitation to run the BEAD program in the next biennium and about $9.4 million in federal spending limitation for the digital equity program. Batts said the department will seek to front‑load the BEAD work across roughly 200 discrete project areas, many aligned by school districts, and that the BEAD grants will operate on a reimbursable basis.

Ending: Batts concluded by saying the office is expediting contracting and coordination work and that the subcommittee will see formal spending‑limitation requests as part of the budget package. The committee did not take action during this information meeting.