La. Admin. Code tit. 4 § XXI-1301

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section XXI-1301 - Plan for Fair, Open, and Competitive Process

A. Eligible locations in the state are organized by the office into a set of pre-defined areas, or "sub-project areas." Prospective subgrantees will define their proposed overall deployment projects, but such proposals must be submitted in the form of sets of SPAs. By including an SPA in an application, the provider commits to reach all included eligible locations.

B. Qualified prospective subgrantees may submit a Round 1 application, after SPAs are determined by the office.

1. A Round 1 application must include:

a. the list of SPAs included in the application;

b. the amount of BEAD funds requested;

c. the proposed technology type for the project; and

d. additional primary and secondary scoring application elements including plans for affordability, fair labor practices, deployment timeline, speed of network, and any other supporting information required by NTIA.

2. Round 1 applications will be analyzed to identify any overlap between applications, with a limited number of selections made according to a prioritization approach. Any such selections will be subject to review and confirmation by the office that the applicant has the requisite operational, managerial, and financial capability to fulfill the subgrant in the specific SPAs included. Any other Round 1 applications that overlap with a Round 1 award will be deemed denied, but the applicant will be permitted to resubmit any non-overlapping SPAs as a new application in Round 2.

C. In Round 2, all remaining unawarded Round 1 applications will automatically be pulled forward and may not be withdrawn. Round 1 applications may be simply left as-is for Round 2, or the applicant may make certain changes including adding new SPAs to the application and/or changing the amount of requested BEAD funding. Any Round 1 applicant may also propose new Round 2 applications exclusively comprising SPAs that did not receive any applications in Round 1.

1. Round 2 applications then will be selected for funding as follows. First, all FTTH applications will be scored using the scoring rubric described below, with de-confliction of overlapping FTTH applications resolved.

2. Next, all non-FTTH applications available for SPAs not already selected for FTTH proposals will be scored and de-conflicted in the same fashion.

3. Prior to finalizing all the Round 1 and Round 2 selections, the office will review the overall set of awards that could be made based on these steps to assess whether 100 percent of unserved locations would be served by either priority or reliable service within the available BEAD allocation budget for the state.

a. If this assessment indicates that the level of service that would be provided to BEAD-eligible locations could be improved, the office will apply the extremely high location threshold (EHCT).

4. The office will conduct a final review of selected proposals to confirm that the total set of awards to each prospective subgrantee is consistent with the financial, operational and managerial capabilities submitted in the pre-qualification process, confidentially engaging with specific providers if needed to confirm or clarify any identified issues, and reserving the ability if necessary to select an alternative proposal if any concerns about the ability of the provider to deliver on all awards remain. The office will publicly announce all awards selected.

La. Admin. Code tit. 4, § XXI-1301

Promulgated by the Office of the Governor, Division of Administration, Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity, LR 50, exp. 7/18/2024(Emergency), Amended LR 50506 (4/1/2024).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 51:2370.21-2370.33.