NDIT updates committee on federal broadband programs; CPF projects moving through engineering

NDIT briefed the Senate appropriations committee on three federal broadband programs the agency administers: BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment), the Digital Equity (DE) program and Capital Projects Fund (CPF) awards from prior allocations.

"Over all 3 programs, this is actually $172,000,000 to close the digital divide in North Dakota," CTO Craig Felkley said. He described the programs as wholly federally funded and administered by NDIT; operational tails are handled by carriers and local partners.

NDIT reported progress on CPF awards the legislature approved previously: about 2,150 locations are covered by CPF projects (roughly 1,900 residences and the remainder businesses) across 11 projects; two projects are complete and others are in preconstruction, engineering, permitting and staged construction. Felkley noted that North Dakota's construction season and permitting cycles affect timing and that NDIT is asking for carryover authority to finish multi-season projects into the next biennium.

On BEAD, NDIT reported it had just completed a competitive subgrantee process and planned to submit a final proposal to the NTIA; additional public comment periods are still to come. The DE program was described as focusing on digital-literacy and covered-population grants (low-income, aging, incarcerated individuals, veterans, people with disabilities, minority populations, rural residents and people with language barriers).

Ending: NDIT asked the committee for carryover authority for unfinished CPF and gateway/digital-experience projects; the committee did not take final action during the hearing.