Upcoming New York State Broadband Funding and Readiness Opportunities

$11 Million in Funding for Grant Programs Promoting Broadband Deployment and Digital Equity in New York State

Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced $11 million in funding for new ConnectALL grant programs within New York State. The Regional and Local Assistance Program and the Digital Equity Technical Assistance Fund Program will help prepare local governments and nonprofit organizations to participate in upcoming statewide broadband deployment and digital equity initiatives. Applications for the two programs will open on June 17, 2024. Gov. Hochul also announced a Prequalification Application that will help internet service providers access federal funding.¹ Applications for all three programs must be submitted through New York’s Consolidated Funding Application Platform.

Regional and Local Assistance Program

The Regional and Local Assistance Program will provide grants to local governments, counties, municipalities, Tribal Governments, and other government entities in New York to plan and implement broadband or wireless deployment and digital equity projects and programs. The grants may not be used for construction, duplicative projects receiving other grant funds, or for indirect or overhead costs. Some examples of eligible uses are staff wages for broadband planning, permitting or digital equity coordination, preparation of feasibility studies, financial or engineering plans, software licenses, environmental studies, publicity and outreach for relevant events or programs, and travel to relevant events or conferences.

Applicants will identify whether they are applying for a Planning Grant or Capacity Grant. Planning Grants fund the development of a plan, scope, design or other documentation in preparation of the implementation of broadband deployment projects. The maximum award for a Planning Grant is $249,999, and the activity funded by the grant must be completed within 24 months, although the project being planned is not required to be completed within that 24-month deadline. Capacity Grants fund internal staff capacity for the implementation of broadband deployment projects or digital equity programs. The maximum award for a Capacity Grant is $150,000, and the minimum request and award is $50,000. However, award amounts may be higher in some circumstances where the total impact or geographical area is large. Funded activities or purchases must be completed within 24 months, and the increased capacity from the grant should be sustained for at least 12 months.²

The application submission deadline is July 15, 2024. ConnectALL will hold an information session on June 25, 2024.³

Digital Equity Technical Assistance Fund Program

The Digital Equity Technical Assistance Fund Program will provide targeted funds to digital inclusion providers to improve their capabilities in advance of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) $1.4 billion Digital Equity Capacity Grant program and $1.6 billion Digital Equity Competitive Grants. Eligible applicants must be registered non-governmental nonprofit entities that have operated for at least two years in the State of New York that directly serve one or more Covered Populations in New York through one of the objectives laid out in the State Digital Equity Plan. They must also demonstrate a specific, time-bound gap in capacity that limits the applicant’s ability to plan towards or apply for federal and state grants for digital equity programs or services for Covered Populations.⁴

Some eligible uses for grant funds include hiring consultants to convene and facilitate regional, collaborative or network-level digital equity efforts to support collaborative federal and state grant submissions, hiring grant writers or development consultants, enrolling staff in trainings to advance culturally responsive instructional methods to aid in program service and delivery for Covered Populations, and translation or plain language services. ConnectALL may approve other uses for grant funds. Grant funds may not be used for construction in any form, duplicative project costs, overhead costs, staff salaries or stipends.

The maximum request and award for each grant is $100,000. Payments to awardees will be made through the reimbursement of expenses at the agreed-upon delivery of certain project requirements. Grants shall not exceed 90% of the total eligible project cost. Information sessions will be held on June 24 and on June 27, 2024.⁵ The application submission deadline is July 30, 2024, but there may be subsequent funding rounds, pending remaining funds. Application evaluation criteria and scoring weight may be viewed on page eight of the program’s Request for Applications (RFA).⁶

Prequalification Application

The Prequalification Application will establish the threshold qualifications of prospective eligible applicants ahead of the ConnectALL Deployment Program’s RFA which will be released in Fall 2024. The Prequalification Application will assess prospective grantees’ financial, managerial and technical qualifications as well as their past experience and capacity to deploy last-mile broadband. The ConnectALL Deployment Program will provide grant funding to eligible applicants to construct and install last-mile infrastructure or communications equipment that can deliver broadband services to unserved and underserved locations. The program is funded by the NTIA, which allocated $664.6 million to the State of New York through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

The Prequalification Application will establish the threshold qualifications of prospective eligible applicants ahead of the ConnectALL Deployment Program’s RFA which will be released in Fall 2024. The Prequalification Application will assess prospective grantees’ financial, managerial and technical qualifications as well as their past experience and capacity to deploy last-mile broadband. The ConnectALL Deployment Program will provide grant funding to eligible applicants to construct and install last-mile infrastructure or communications equipment that can deliver broadband services to unserved and underserved locations. The program is funded by the NTIA, which allocated $664.6 million to the State of New York through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

Eligible applicants to the Prequalification Application may be individual organizations or a consortium of organizations with a single lead entity. If the applicant is a consortium, the lead entity must be authorized and capable of accepting all responsibility and risk for a program grant, if awarded. No funding will be provided through the Prequalification Application. Successful applicants will be eligible to apply for grant funding via the ConnectALL Deployment Program’s RFA, which will be issued in fall 2024. Application contents are set out in the program’s RFA and include the applicant’s legal name and contact information, certification of the applicant’s operational capacity, details about the applicant’s managerial capability such as current resumes and proposed responsibilities for key personnel who would participate in a funded project, technical capability certification, details about the applicant’s participation and commitments through other publicly-funded broadband programs, along with other information.⁷

The Prequalification Application is set to launch on June 21, 2024. The submission deadline is rolling and the final deadline will be determined in the future. Successfully prequalified applicants will be notified of their status within thirty (30) days of the final application deadline, which will be determined upon NTIA’s approval of New York State’s BEAD Initial Proposal, Volume II. Prequalified status does not, however, guarantee that applicants will be selected for grant awards nor does it obligate an entity to respond to the RFA. ConnectALL will hold an information session on June 26, 2024.⁸

For more information, please contact a member of our Telecommunications Industry Team or the Phillips Lytle attorney with whom you have a relationship.