Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program
NTIA issues this NOFO to describe the requirements under which it will award grants for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program (Program), authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, Division F, Title I, Section 60102, Public Law 117-58, 135 Stat. 429 (November 15, 2021) (Infrastructure Act or Act) also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The BEAD Program provides new federal funding for NTIA to grant to all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (States), as well as American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands (Territories), and in certain circumstances political subdivisions of these States and Territories, for broadband planning, deployment, mapping, equity, and adoption activities. Funding is distributed primarily based on the relative number of “unserved” locations (i.e., broadband-serviceable locations that lack access to Reliable Broadband Service at speeds of at least 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream and latency levels low enough to support real-time, interactive applications) in each State and Territory. Each State is eligible to receive a minimum of $100,000,000 and each Territory is eligible to receive a minimum of $25,000,000. See Section I of this NOFO for the full Program Description.