Section 2706 - Application process(a) Application period.--The authority shall establish an annual application period during which applications for grant funding under the program may be submitted. The annual application period shall be no fewer than 90 days and no longer than 150 days.(b)Form and contents.--An application shall be submitted to the authority. An application shall include the following information: (1) Evidence demonstrating the applicant's experience and ability in building, operating and managing high-speed broadband service infrastructure networks serving households and businesses.(2) A description of the project area, including a list of census blocks covered by the proposed deployment. If a census block included in an application is currently partially served by a provider of high-speed broadband service, the application must describe the portions of the census block that are already served and which constitute an unserved area.(3) A certification that none of the grant money provided by the program for the proposed project will be used to extend or deploy high-speed broadband service infrastructure to areas with access to high-speed broadband service at the time of submitting a grant application.(4) A description of the high-speed broadband service infrastructure that is proposed to be deployed, including facilities, equipment and network capabilities and minimum speed thresholds.(5) The number of households and businesses that would have new or improved access to high-speed broadband service as a result of the grant award.(6) The total cost of the proposed project and the proposed completion date of the project.(7) The amount of private capital pledged to finance the proposed project and a certification that no portion of the private capital pledged is derived from any Federal, State or local government grant or loan program.(8) Evidence demonstrating the economic and commercial feasibility of the proposed project.(9) A list of all government authorizations, permits and other required approvals to deploy high-speed broadband service infrastructure and a timetable for the applicant's acquisition of the approvals.(10) Any other information required by the authority.(c) Publication.--Within five business days following the close of the application period, the authority shall make the applications received available for review on the authority's publicly accessible Internet website.(d)Overbuild challenge.--Within 45 days of the authority making the applications available on the authority's publicly accessible Internet website, a broadband service provider providing high-speed broadband service to households and businesses within a proposed project area may challenge an application on the grounds that granting an award to the applicant will result in an overbuild. The challenge must be submitted in writing to the authority and include the following:(1) A declaration disputing that a proposed project area is unserved.(2) An affidavit of the broadband service provider challenging the application of the provider's existing or planned provision of high-speed broadband service within the applicant's proposed project area.(e) Review.--In reviewing an application and any accompanying challenge, the authority shall conduct a review of the proposed project areas to ensure that all grants awarded are used to deploy high-speed broadband service infrastructure to unserved areas. The authority may not award a grant to fund deployment of high-speed broadband service infrastructure for any project area that results in an overbuild.(f) Criteria.--The authority shall award grants for projects based upon a scoring system, which shall be released to the public at least 30 days prior to the beginning of the application period. Specific criteria to be considered when weighing or scoring an application are as follows: (1) The size and scope of the unserved area to be deployed.(2) The experience, technical ability and financial capability of the applicant to successfully deploy high-speed broadband service infrastructure and provide high-speed broadband service.(3) Length of time which the applicant has been providing high-speed broadband service.(4) The extent to which Federal, State or local government funding support is necessary to deploy high-speed broadband network infrastructure in an economically feasible manner in the proposed project area.(5) The proportion of the private capital pledged by the applicant to finance the proposed project.(6) The high-speed broadband service speed thresholds proposed in the application and the scalability of the highspeed broadband service infrastructure proposed to be deployed to provide high-speed broadband service to households and businesses.(7) An affidavit that no project grant awards are to be used to overbuild an area that is already served with highspeed broadband service.(8) Other factors which the authority determines to be reasonable and appropriate, consistent with the purposes of this act.(g) Limitation.--In awarding grants, except as required under applicable law, the authority shall not consider any additional regulatory obligations, including, but not limited to, open access network requirements or any rate, service or other obligation beyond the speed requirements set forth in the definition of "high-speed broadband service" in section 3.(h) Time for project completion.--Applicants shall be afforded a reasonable length of time to complete projects selected for grant funding approval.Added by P.L. TBD 2020 No. 132, § 6, eff. 11/25/2020.