Treasury Capital Project Fund Awards to Come in 'Pretty Near Future': Official

The Treasury Department is reviewing state and territory plans for the Capital Projects Fund on a “rolling basis,” said the fund's director, Joseph Wender, during a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition webinar Thursday (see 2105100060). “We’re hoping to make awards in the pretty near future,” Wender said, noting tribal applications are due by June 1 and all grant and program plans by Sept. 24.

“The money has already been allocated,” Wender said. States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico received $9.8 billion, territories and freely associated states received $100 million, and tribal governments received $100 million. “Every state knows exactly what it’s been allocated,” he said, saying 15 tribal applications have been approved so far.

Program funds will go toward broadband infrastructure investments and futureproofing with symmetrical speed standards of 100 Mbps where possible and a preference for fiber, Wender said, noting fixed wireless “has a role to play.” Sub-grant recipients will be required to participate in the FCC’s affordable connectivity program. Funding must be spent within five years.

The program allows middle-mile funding, Wender said, but will require states to prove why this kind of funding is an important part of their plan. “This is not a writ-large middle-mile program,” he said, but the department will consider it in plans. The Treasury Department also isn't preempting states with laws prohibiting municipal broadband networks, Wender said. The funding is “there to address and respond to a market failure,” he said, and is supporting capital investments.

Maine’s proposed program elements will include “impact mapping and regional capacity building,” last-mile program support, broadband affordability and specific locations to act as "connectivity hubs" that would "maximize the impact of broadband infrastructure,” said ConnectMaine Authority Director Peggy Schaffer. Several municipalities in Maine “will own the infrastructure” in their communities and “contract ISPs to run it,” she noted.

"We have not made any state awards to date,” Wender said, noting 10 states have submitted their grant plans. Treasury isn't making these publicly available yet, but Wender noted a state may decide to do so on its own. Schaffer said her state hasn't submitted its plan, but she hopes to do so within the next two weeks: “It’s very important that we have a plan that’s approved … before it goes public.”

The Maine Connectivity Board has been reviewing “various parts” of the state’s plan, Schaffer said. It’s “based on the public input” the state received on what the strategies and priorities should be with this funding, she said. Wender noted the program requires states to lay out the kind of public input and engagement they had in their plans.

Anchor institutions “play a key role” in states' efforts to bring connectivity to their residents, Wender said. Schaffer noted her state’s plan will include anchor institutions in its proposed connectivity hubs. “I don’t want to see that anchor institutions are separate from the communities they live in,” Schaffer said. “We’re building a network that serves a community,” she said, which includes households, anchor institutions, and local businesses.

Maine’s plan for NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment program “will flow from the work that we’ve done” for the Capital Projects Fund, Schaffer said (see 2202240047). Wender noted the “biggest difference” between the Treasury Department and NTIA’s programs is timing, and BEAD funding will “continue the work that [states] have done to complete the projects” that received Capital Projects Fund support.