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1 1 (August 03, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdbeo0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FF. mppm qq\ p\w -- , gn'a', go I aS 11LULANJILiN, Updated August 3, 2020 USDA's ReConnect Broadband Pilot Program Congress established the Rural e-Connectivity Pilot Program (also known as ReConnect) in the FY2018 consolidated appropriations act. ReConnect provides loan and grant funding to eligible entities to deploy broadband internet service in eligible rural areas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) administers ReConnect. In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115- 141, Division B, §779), Congress provided $600 million for the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a new broadband loan and grant pilot program under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. §901 et seq.). Congress directed that, to receive assistance, projects must serve rural areas where at least 90% of households lack sufficient access to broadband speeds of at least 10 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 1 Mbps upload (known as 10/1 Mbps), to be redetermined, as necessary, by the Secretary of Agriculture. Congress also directed that ReConnect assistance not overbuild or duplicate prior broadband expansion efforts financed by RUS. Congress subsequently provided $550 million for ReConnect in FY2019 (P.L. 116-6, Division B, §762) and $555 million in FY2020 (P.L. 116-94, Division B, §787). In March 2020, Congress provided an additional $100 million for ReConnect grants in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act, P.L. 116-136, Division B, Title I, § 11004). CARES Act funds are to remain available until September 30, 2021. All other appropriated funds for FY2018-FY2020 are to remain available until expended. Congress has not authorized ReConnect in legislation outside of annual Agriculture appropriations acts. RUS has published two Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) for ReConnect. RUS published the first FOA for ReConnect in December 2018 and awarded first round funds between October 2019 and May 2020. RUS published the second FOA for ReConnect in December 2019 and began awarding second round funds in June 2020. F; r~z t Ro nd ofFud; In the first round of funding, RUS awarded approximately $744.3 million to 82 applicants in 34 states and territories. Three funding categories were available: 100% loans, 50% loan/50% grant combinations, and 100% grants. RUS set maximum award amounts per project at $50 million for a loan, $50 million for a loan/grant combination (loan and grant amounts must be equal), or $25 million for a grant. Round 1 funds could be used for * construction or improvement of facilities required to provide broadband service, * terrestrial-based facilities for satellite broadband service, * reasonable pre-application expenses in an amount not to exceed 5% of the award, and * acquisition and upgrade of an existing system that does not currently provide sufficient access to broadband (acquisitions eligible only for 100% loans.) Eligible applicants included state or local governments, territories or possessions of the United States, Indian tribes, nonprofit entities, for-profit corporations, limited liability companies, and cooperative or mutual organizations. RUS required applicants to define a Proposed Funded Service Area (PFSA) an area where the applicant proposed to provide broadband service. An eligible PFSA had to be a rural area defined as a city, town, or incorporated area with a population of 20,000 or fewer and not adjacent to a city or town with a population of greater than 50,000. A PFSA did not need to be contiguous and could include gaps to remove areas that already had sufficient broadband access. With some exceptions, an entity could not use ReConnect funding to overbuild or duplicate broadband expansion efforts made under prior federal broadband assistance. For loan and loan/grant combination eligibility, at least 90% of households in a PFSA had to lack sufficient access to broadband. For grant eligibility, RUS required 100% of households in a PFSA to lack sufficient broadband access. RUS also required applicants to build a network capable of providing broadband service to all premises in the PFSA at minimum speeds of 25/3 Mbps. In its second FOA, RUS announced approximately $512 million in available funding. RUS later announced that it would also take applications under Round 2 for the $100 million provided for grants in the CARES Act. Funding categories and eligible projects and applicants for Round 2 all remain unchanged from Round 1. RUS also maintains its definition of rural area and its requirement that applicants provide broadband service at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps. RUS introduced changes to certain eligibility and prioritization criteria in Round 2 (see Table 1). In Round 2, K~:>

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