North Dakota Receives NTIA Approval on BEAD Challenge Process Results and Launches Subgrantee Selection

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has formally certified the results of North Dakota's Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Challenge Process, and the State has publicly posted the BEAD eligible locations on its website. The Challenge Process, required for all states participating in the BEAD program, allowed North Dakota to develop a more accurate view of broadband needs across the state.

North Dakota's State Broadband Program Office (SBPO) is now launching a competitive subgrantee selection process to allocate BEAD grant funding to eligible projects. This process, outlined in Volume II of North Dakota's Initial Proposal, aims to facilitate as much coverage of remaining locations classified as 'unserved' - those with less than 25/3 Mbps - and 'underserved'- those with less than 100/20 Mbps - as possible. Prospective subgrantees can now access the application on the North Dakota WebGrants portal.

SBPO hosted two Office Hours sessions to provide an overview of the subgrantee selection process and answer questions from prospective subgrantees. SBPO plans to conduct at least one application round through and will repeat the process until all remaining eligible locations receive project bids.

"We are excited to move to this next phase of the BEAD grants process," North Dakota State Broadband Program Director Brian D. Newby said. "We continue to move closer to achieving the objective that all North Dakotans have home access to high-speed internet, and thanks to the great work by the state's internet service providers, we are almost there already. This subgrantee selection process will be the first leg in the race to fill the gap through the BEAD program, in accordance with NTIA's continued oversight."

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration approved Volume II of North Dakota's Initial Proposal for implementing the BEAD program on September 6, 2024. This marked the beginning a one-year time period in which the State must allocate funds and document determinations in its Final Proposal.