W. Va. Code R. § 208-1-6

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024

Section 208-1-6 - Application Evaluation

6.1. During the thirty days that follow the sixty-day required public notice period, the Council shall review all applications for completeness and conformance with the statute, this rule, and the instructions provided with the application forms.

6.2 The Council shall reject an application that is incomplete or not in conformance with the statute, this rule, and the instructions provided with the application forms.

6.3 The Council shall not approve any project for broadband services that does not provide transmission rates for broadband service as defined in W. Va. Code § 31-15C-2 and specified in W. Va. Code § 31-15C-9.

6.4. The Council shall not duplicate or displace broadband service in areas already served or where private industry feasibly can be expected to offer services in the reasonably foreseeable future.

6.5. Projects for grant awards may involve or require the placement of infrastructure within or through areas served by existing broadband services, however, an award recipient may not use grant moneys to build out, or provide, broadband services within those areas already served. Applicants and award recipients must be able to segregate project funds by funding source and may only apply Council grant funds toward the provision of services to unserved areas.

6.6. The Council may reject any application on the basis of the amount of funding sought; request the applicant to revise its application and resubmit it in a future grant cycle; award more or less than the full amount requested in the application; or require overlapping applications to coordinate in the provision of service to the public.

6.7. The Council shall evaluate broadband infrastructure applications based on the following criteria:

6.7.a. The cost-effectiveness of the project;

6.7.b. The economic development benefits of the project;

6.7.c. The availability of alternative sources of funding that could help finance the project, including, but not limited to, private grants or federal funding and the efforts undertaken to obtain that funding;

6.7.d. If the project requires the construction of a network, the applicant's experience operating and maintaining such network;

6.7.e. The extent to which the project advances statewide broadband access and other state broadband planning goals;

6.7.f. The proposed technologies, bandwidths, upstream data rates and downstream data rates and downstream-to-upstream data ratios;

6.7.g. The planned date the project would commence and the planned date the project would be completed;

6.7.h. The amount of financial assistance sought;

6.7.i. The long-term financial sustainability of the proposed project;

6.7.j. The amount of matching funds provided by the applicant;

6.7.k. How the proposed project compares with other proposals for the same unserved area with regard to number of people served, the amount of financial assistance sought, and the long-term sustainability of the proposed project; and

6.7.l. Any other criteria the Council considers necessary and prudent.

6.8. The Council shall evaluate demand promotion applications based on the following criteria:

6.8.a. The cost-effectiveness of the project;

6.8.b. The economic development benefits of the project;

6.8.c. The availability of alternative sources of funding that could help finance the project, including, but not limited to, private grants or federal funding and the efforts undertaken to obtain that funding;

6.8.d. The extent to which the project advances statewide broadband access and other state broadband planning goals;

6.8.e. The planned date the project would commence and the planned date the project would be completed;

6.8.f. The amount of financial assistance sought;

6.8.g. The long-term financial sustainability of the proposed project;

6.8.h. The applicant's experience with similar or related programs;

6.8.i. The overall advantages of the projects and benefits to be achieved in comparison to existing offerings and means of promoting the use of broadband services;

6.8.j. The amount of matching funds provided by the applicant; and

6.8.k. The extent to which the proposal serves the powers and duties of the Council as set out in W. Va. Code § 31-15C-4.

6.9. The scoring of applications shall be based on a point scale and shall include, but not limited to, all factors required in W. Va. Code § 31-15C-9. The Council will judge the application using the following three scoring categories:

6.9.a. Project Scope;

6.9.b. Project Viability; and

6.9.c. Project Budget and Sustainability

6.10. The Council will review applications will be reviewed in two phases; an initial evaluation phase followed by a due diligence phase. The due diligence phase will require applicants to submit more detailed financial information to enable the Council to render a final decision.

6.11. The funding decisions of the Council are final.

W. Va. Code R. § 208-1-6