What needs to be changed in the next round of BTOP/BIT?

On September 10 the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held its second in a series of oversight hearings of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Despite the title, the hearing focused specifically on how the $7.2 billion BTOP/BIT program for stimulating broadband deployment was proceeding. Chairman Rick Boucher (D-Va) led off with a now familiar refrain that the requirement that a community be “remote” (defined as 50 miles from a city of at least 20,000) is too restrictive and in fact would eliminate most of the Eastern U.S. from eligibility for the most generous grants; Rep. Eshoo (D- Calif) and Rep. Matsui (D-Calif) asked if networks connecting anchor institutions should be given higher priority, and Republicans want the program to favor states that have completed their broadband mapping. But perhaps most significant was the testimony of Larry Strickling, Head of the NTIA, stating that there is serious consideration of combining the second and third rounds of funding into a single round, to be completed in the Spring of 2010. According to Strickling, this plan would offer the following benefits:

• Enable the NTIA/RUS to complete the entire grant-making process earlier, expediting the economic and job creation stimulus.
• Provide additional time for feedback from first round participants on what process improvements could be made for the second NOFA.
• Provide additional time for participants to work out the details of various consortia or public-private partnerships.
• Reduce administrative expenses.

For EDUCAUSE members who plan to submit proposals in the second round, there is reason to hope that you will see some meaningful refinements in the process.