Recovery Act
Broadband Programs Awards and Risks to Oversight Gao ID: GAO-11-371T February 10, 2011Access to broadband service--a highspeed connection to the Internet--is seen as vital to economic, social, and educational development, yet many areas of the country lack access to, or their residents do not use, broadband. To expand broadband deployment and adoption, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) provided $7.2 billion to the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for grants or loans to a variety of program applicants. The Recovery Act required the agencies to award all funds by September 30, 2010. This testimony addresses (1) NTIA's and RUS's efforts to award Recovery Act broadband funds and (2) the remaining risks that NTIA and RUS face in providing oversight for funded projects. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed and summarized information from prior GAO work. GAO also reviewed NTIA and RUS reports on the status of the agencies' programs and gathered information from the agencies on steps taken to respond to prior GAO recommendations. In past work, GAO recommended that the agencies take several actions, such as developing contingency plans to ensure sufficient resources for project oversight. NTIA and RUS have taken some steps to address GAO's recommendations.
NTIA and RUS awarded grants and loans for several hundred broadband projects in two funding rounds. By the end of fiscal year 2010, NTIA and RUS awarded grants and loans to 553 broadband projects across the country. These projects represent almost $7.5 billion in awarded funds, which exceeds the $7.2 billion provided by the Recovery Act because RUS-- which awards loans that must be repaid to the government--has authority to provide funds in excess of its budget authority. In its review of the first funding round, GAO found that NTIA and RUS, with the help of the agencies' contractors, consistently substantiated information provided by award recipients' applications. GAO has not evaluated the thoroughness of the process used by the agencies in the second round of funding. Even with steps taken to address project oversight, risks to the success of the broadband programs remain. GAO previously reported that NTIA and RUS face several challenges to successfully overseeing the broadband programs. These challenges include (1) monitoring and overseeing a combined total of 553 projects that are diverse in scale, scope, and technology and (2) conducting project oversight activities after the expiration of Recovery Act funding on September 30, 2010. Because of these challenges, in two previous reports, GAO recommended that NTIA and RUS take several actions to ensure that funded projects receive sufficient oversight. For example, GAO recommended that NTIA and RUS develop contingency plans to ensure sufficient resources for oversight of funded projects beyond fiscal year 2010. The agencies have taken several actions to address GAO's recommendations and improve oversight of funded projects--both agencies developed oversight plans, RUS secured contractor support though fiscal year 2013, and NTIA established audit requirements for commercial awardees. Even with these actions, GAO remains concerned about the oversight of the broadband programs. In particular, GAO believes the agencies, and especially NTIA, need to do more to ensure their oversight plans reflect current fiscal realities.
GAO-11-371T, Recovery Act: Broadband Programs Awards and Risks to Oversight
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United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
Testimony:
Before the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Committee on
Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives:
For Release on Delivery:
Expected at 10:00 a.m. EST:
Thursday, February 10, 2011:
Recovery Act:
Broadband Programs Awards and Risks to Oversight:
Statement of Mark L. Goldstein, Director:
Physical Infrastructure Issues:
GAO-11-371T:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-11-371T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on
Communications and Technology, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House
of Representatives.
Why GAO Did This Study:
Access to broadband service”a high-speed connection to the Internet”is
seen as vital to economic, social, and educational development, yet
many areas of the country lack access to, or their residents do not
use, broadband. To expand broadband deployment and adoption, the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) provided
$7.2 billion to the Department of Commerce‘s National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the
Department of Agriculture‘s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for grants
or loans to a variety of program applicants. The Recovery Act required
the agencies to award all funds by September 30, 2010.
This testimony addresses (1) NTIA‘s and RUS‘s efforts to award
Recovery Act broadband funds and (2) the remaining risks that NTIA and
RUS face in providing oversight for funded projects. To conduct this
work, GAO reviewed and summarized information from prior GAO work. GAO
also reviewed NTIA and RUS reports on the status of the agencies‘
programs and gathered information from the agencies on steps taken to
respond to prior GAO recommendations.
In past work, GAO recommended that the agencies take several actions,
such as developing contingency plans to ensure sufficient resources
for project oversight. NTIA and RUS have taken some steps to address
GAO‘s recommendations.
What GAO Found:
NTIA and RUS awarded grants and loans for several hundred broadband
projects in two funding rounds. By the end of fiscal year 2010, NTIA
and RUS awarded grants and loans to 553 broadband projects across the
country (see table below). These projects represent almost $7.5
billion in awarded funds, which exceeds the $7.2 billion provided by
the Recovery Act because RUS-”which awards loans that must be repaid
to the government-”has authority to provide funds in excess of its
budget authority. In its review of the first funding round, GAO found
that NTIA and RUS, with the help of the agencies‘ contractors,
consistently substantiated information provided by award recipients‘
applications. GAO has not evaluated the thoroughness of the process
used by the agencies in the second round of funding.
Even with steps taken to address project oversight, risks to the
success of the broadband programs remain. GAO previously reported that
NTIA and RUS face several challenges to successfully overseeing the
broadband programs. These challenges include (1) monitoring and
overseeing a combined total of 553 projects that are diverse in scale,
scope, and technology and (2) conducting project oversight activities
after the expiration of Recovery Act funding on September 30, 2010.
Because of these challenges, in two previous reports, GAO recommended
that NTIA and RUS take several actions to ensure that funded projects
receive sufficient oversight. For example, GAO recommended that NTIA
and RUS develop contingency plans to ensure sufficient resources for
oversight of funded projects beyond fiscal year 2010. The agencies
have taken several actions to address GAO‘s recommendations and
improve oversight of funded projects”both agencies developed oversight
plans, RUS secured contractor support though fiscal year 2013, and
NTIA established audit requirements for commercial awardees. Even with
these actions, GAO remains concerned about the oversight of the
broadband programs. In particular, GAO believes the agencies, and
especially NTIA, need to do more to ensure their oversight plans
reflect current fiscal realities.
Table: Projects Awarded Federal Funding by NTIA and RUS as of
September 30, 2010:
Agency: NTIA grants;
Federal funds awarded: $3.936 billion;
Projects awarded funding: 233.
Agency: RUS grants and loans;
Federal funds awarded: $3.529 billion[A];
Projects awarded funding: 320.
Agency: Total;
Federal funds awarded: $7.465 billion;
Projects awarded funding: 553.
Source: NTIA and RUS documents.
[A] This amount is based on a total budget authority of more than $2.4
billion, which includes more than $2.3 billion for grants and about
$87 million to support loans.
[End of table]
View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-371T] or key
components. For more information, contact Mark L. Goldstein at (202)
512-2834 or goldsteinm@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
We appreciate the opportunity to participate in this hearing to
discuss oversight of the broadband programs funded through the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009[Footnote 1] (Recovery
Act). Access to broadband--which offers a higher speed Internet
connection than dial-up and always-on connectivity--is seen as vital
to economic, social, and educational development. However, many areas
of the country lack access to, or their residents do not use,
broadband. The Recovery Act appropriated $7.2 billion to extend access
to broadband throughout the United States. Of the $7.2 billion, $4.7
billion was appropriated for the Department of Commerce's National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)[Footnote 2]
and $2.5 billion for the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities
Service (RUS). Specifically, the Recovery Act authorized NTIA to
create the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) to
support broadband infrastructure deployment, public computer centers,
and innovative projects to stimulate demand for, and adoption of,
broadband.[Footnote 3] Similarly, RUS established the Broadband
Initiatives Program (BIP) to support broadband infrastructure projects
in rural areas. The Recovery Act required NTIA and RUS to award all
funds by September 30, 2010, and both BTOP and BIP projects must be
substantially complete within 2 years and fully complete no later than
3 years following the date of issuance of their award.
As part of our ongoing efforts to monitor Recovery Act programs, we
issued two reports that reviewed NTIA's and RUS's respective
implementation of BTOP and BIP.[Footnote 4] In those reports, we
provided information on the agencies' efforts to evaluate grant and
loan applications and award funds, as well as on challenges the
agencies face in overseeing funded projects. We made several
recommendations to NTIA and RUS in those reports to address the
process by which the agencies reviewed funding applications, and to
improve the agencies' oversight and monitoring of funded projects. My
testimony today summarizes and updates information from those reports
by discussing (1) NTIA's and RUS's efforts to award Recovery Act
broadband funds and (2) remaining risks that NTIA and RUS face in
providing oversight for funded projects.
To conduct our work, we reviewed and summarized information from our
existing reports and prior testimony.[Footnote 5] We reviewed NTIA and
RUS reports on the status of BTOP and BIP awards. We also gathered
additional information from NTIA and RUS on steps taken by the
agencies to respond to recommendations in our prior reports. We
conducted all of our work in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards. Additional information on our scope and
methodology is available in each issued product.
NTIA and RUS Awarded Grants and Loans for Several Hundred Broadband
Projects in Two Funding Rounds:
By the end of fiscal year 2010, NTIA and RUS awarded grants and loans
to 553 broadband projects across the country (see table 1). These
projects represent almost $7.5 billion in funds awarded, which exceeds
the $7.2 billion provided by the Recovery Act because an agency such
as RUS that awards loans can award and obligate funds in excess of its
budget authority.[Footnote 6] NTIA awarded more than $3.9 billion in
grant funding to 233 projects for various purposes, including 123
broadband infrastructure projects, 66 public computer center projects,
and 44 projects designed to encourage broadband adoption. NTIA
reported that the vast majority of its broadband infrastructure
projects were investments in middle-mile infrastructure projects,
which are intended to provide a link from the Internet backbone to the
networks of local broadband service providers, such as cable or phone
companies. Based on a budget authority of more than $2.4 billion, RUS
awarded funds to 320 projects, including more than $2.3 billion for
grants and about $87 million for loans. According to RUS, the budget
authority of $87 million for loans supports almost $1.2 billion in
total loans, and a combined loan and grant award amount of more than
$3.5 billion. According to RUS, the vast majority of its awards and
funding amounts went to last-mile projects, which are intended to
provide connections from Internet service providers to homes,
businesses, or other users.
Table 1: Projects Awarded Federal Funding by NTIA and RUS as of
September 30, 2010:
Agency: NTIA grants;
Federal funds awarded: $3.936 billion;
Projects awarded funding: 233.
Agency: RUS grants and loans;
Federal funds awarded: $3.529 billion[A];
Projects awarded funding: 320.
Agency: Total;
Federal funds awarded: $7.465 billion;
Projects awarded funding: 553.
Source: NTIA and RUS documents.
[A] This amount is based on a total budget authority of more than $2.4
billion, which includes more than $2.3 billion for grants and about
$87 million to support loans.
[End of table]
NTIA and RUS awarded the BTOP and BIP grants, loans, and loan/grant
combinations in two funding rounds. NTIA and RUS initially proposed
using three separate funding rounds during the 18-month window to
award the entire $7.2 billion. We reported that under this approach
each funding round would operate under a compressed schedule that
would impose challenges on applicants in preparing their project
applications, as well as on the agencies in reviewing these
applications to meet their statutory deadlines. NTIA and RUS
subsequently revised their plans and issued the awards in two funding
rounds.
* In the first funding round, which began in July 2009 and ended in
April 2010, NTIA and RUS received more than 2,200 applications and
awarded 143 grants, loans, and loan/grant combinations totaling almost
$2.2 billion to a variety of entities in nearly every state and U.S.
territory. In our review of the first funding round, we found that
NTIA and RUS, with the help of the agencies' contractors--Booz Allen
Hamilton and ICF International, respectively--consistently
substantiated information provided by award recipients in their
applications during the first round of funding.[Footnote 7] We
reviewed 32 award recipient applications and found that the agencies
consistently reviewed the applications and substantiated the
information as specified in the first funding notice. In each of the
files, we observed written documentation that the agencies and their
contractors reviewed and verified pertinent application materials, and
requested additional documentation where necessary.
* In the second funding round, which began in January 2010 and ended
in September 2010, NTIA and RUS received more than 1,700 applications
and awarded approximately $5.3 billion in funding for 410 projects. To
meet the Recovery Act's September 30, 2010, deadline for awarding
broadband funds, NTIA and RUS streamlined their application review
processes by issuing separate funding notices that targeted different
types of infrastructure projects and reduced the number of steps in
the due-diligence review process. NTIA also reduced the basic
eligibility factors for BTOP grants from five to three, moved from a
largely unpaid to a paid reviewer model to ensure that reviews were
conducted in a timely fashion, and decreased the number of reviewers
per application from three to two. Although NTIA officials reported
that these steps allowed the agency to complete the initial portion of
its review ahead of schedule, we have not evaluated the thoroughness
of the revised evaluation process used by the agencies in the second
round of funding.
Even with Steps Taken to Address Project Oversight, Risks to the
Success of the Broadband Programs Remain:
We previously reported that NTIA and RUS face several challenges to
successfully overseeing the broadband programs. These challenges
include:
Number and scale of projects: NTIA and RUS will need to monitor and
oversee a combined total of 553 projects that are diverse in scale,
scope, and technology. The agencies funded several types of broadband
projects dispersed nationwide, with at least one project in every
state. NTIA funded middle-mile broadband infrastructure projects for
unserved and underserved areas, public computer centers, and
sustainable broadband adoption projects. RUS funded both last-and
middle-mile infrastructure projects in rural areas across the country.
The agencies funded projects using multiple types of technology,
including wireline, wireless, and satellite. In addition, the agencies
awarded funds to many large projects, which may pose a greater risk
for misuse of federal funds than smaller projects. One of RUS's
largest projects provided more than $81 million in grant funding and
$10 million in loan funding to the American Samoa Telecommunications
Authority to replace old copper infrastructure with a fiber-optic
network to link the main islands of American Samoa; RUS reported that
this project will make broadband services available to 9,735
households, 315 businesses, and 106 anchor institutions, and create an
estimated 2,000 jobs. One of NTIA's largest BTOP projects received
more than $154 million, which was awarded to Los Angeles region public
safety agencies to deploy a public safety mobile broadband network
across Los Angeles County to enable services such as computer-aided
dispatch, rapid law-enforcement queries, real-time video streaming,
and medical telemetry and patient tracking, among others.
Adding to these challenges, NTIA and RUS must ensure that the
recipient constructs the infrastructure project in the entire project
area, not just the area where it may be most profitable for the
company to provide service. For example, the Recovery Act mandates
that RUS fund projects where at least 75 percent of the funded area is
in a rural area that lacks sufficient access to high-speed broadband
service to facilitate rural economic development; these are often
rural areas with limited demand, and the high cost of providing
service to these areas make them less profitable for broadband
providers. Companies may have an incentive to build first where they
have the most opportunity for profit and leave the unserved parts of
their projects for last in order to achieve the highest number of
subscribers as possible. To ensure that Recovery Act funds reach hard-
to-serve areas, recipients must deploy their infrastructure projects
throughout the proposed area on which their award was based.
Providing oversight after Recovery Act funding has ceased: BTOP and
BIP projects must be substantially complete within 2 years of the
award date and fully complete within 3 years of the award date. As a
result, some projects are not expected to be completed until 2013. As
we previously reported, NTIA and RUS officials maintain that site
visits, in particular, are essential to monitoring progress and
ensuring compliance. However, the Recovery Act did not provide
specific funding for the administration and oversight of BTOP-and BIP-
funded projects beyond September 30, 2010. To effectively monitor and
oversee more than $7 billion in Recovery Act broadband funding, NTIA
and RUS will have to devote sufficient resources, including staffing,
to ensure that recipients fulfill their obligations.
Because of these challenges, in our 2009 and 2010 reports, we
recommended that NTIA and RUS take several actions to ensure that
funded projects receive sufficient oversight:
1. NTIA and RUS should develop contingency plans to ensure sufficient
resources for oversight of funded projects beyond fiscal year 2010.
Furthermore, we recommended that the agencies incorporate into their
risk-based monitoring plans, steps to address the variability in
funding levels for postaward oversight beyond September 30, 2010.
2. NTIA and RUS should use information provided by applicants in the
first funding round to establish quantifiable, outcome-based
performance goals by which to measure program effectiveness.
3. NTIA should determine whether commercial entities receiving BTOP
grants should be subject to an annual audit requirement.
NTIA and RUS have taken several actions to address these
recommendations and improve oversight of funded projects. These
actions include:
NTIA and RUS developed oversight plans: NTIA has developed and is
beginning to implement a postaward framework to ensure the successful
execution of BTOP. This framework includes three main elements: (1)
monitoring and reporting, (2) compliance, and (3) technical
assistance. As part of its oversight plans, NTIA intends to use desk
reviews and on-site visits to monitor the implementation of BTOP
awards and ensure compliance with award conditions by recipients. NTIA
also plans to provide technical assistance in the form of training,
Webinars, conference calls, workshops, and outreach for all recipients
of BTOP funding to address any problems or issues recipients may have
implementing the projects, as well as to assist in adhering to award
guidelines and regulatory requirements. Additionally, RUS is putting
into place a multifaceted oversight framework to monitor compliance
and progress for recipients of BIP funding. Unlike NTIA, which is
developing a new oversight framework for BTOP, RUS plans to use the
same oversight framework for BIP that it uses for its existing grant
and loan programs. The main components of RUS's oversight framework
are (1) financial and program reporting and (2) desk and field
monitoring. According to RUS officials, no later than 30 days after
the end of each calendar-year quarter, BIP recipients will be required
to submit several types of information to RUS, including balance
sheets, income statements, statements of cash flow, summaries of rate
packages, and the number of broadband subscribers in each community.
In addition, RUS intends to conduct desk and site reviews.
RUS secured contractor support through fiscal year 2013: RUS extended
its contract with ICF International to provide BIP program support
through 2013. According to RUS, the agency fully funded the contract
extension using Recovery Act funds and no additional appropriations
are required to continue the contract through fiscal year 2013. In
addition, RUS extended of the term of employment through fiscal year
2011 for 25 temporary employees assigned to assist with the oversight
of BIP projects.
NTIA established audit requirements for commercial awardees: On May
17, 2010, NTIA reported that for-profit awardees will be required to
comply with program-specific audit requirements set forth by the
Office of Management and Budget. This audit and reporting requirement
will give NTIA the oversight tools it needs to help ensure that
projects meet the objectives of the Recovery Act and guard against
waste, fraud, and abuse.
Even with these actions, NTIA and RUS have not fully addressed all our
recommendations and we therefore remain concerned about the oversight
of the broadband programs. First, NTIA's oversight plan assumes the
agency will receive additional funding for oversight. For fiscal year
2011, the President's budget request includes nearly $24 million to
continue oversight activities. NTIA reported that it is imperative
that it receive sufficient funding to ensure effective oversight. In
contrast, the President's budget request does not include additional
resources to continue RUS's oversight activities, which the agency in
part addressed through the extension of its contact with ICF
International. However, should there be a reduction in RUS's fiscal
year 2011 budget, the agency will need to assess its impacts and the
temporary employment of 25 staff members, as discussed previously.
Therefore, we believe the agencies, especially NTIA, need to do more
to ensure their oversight plans reflect current fiscal realities.
Second, we continue to keep our recommendation regarding performance
goals open. NTIA has taken some action on this recommendation, such as
creating goals related to new network miles and workstations deployed,
but it continues to establish additional goals.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the subcommittee, this concludes my
prepared statement. I would be pleased to respond to any questions
that you or other members of the subcommittee might have.
For questions regarding this statement, please contact Mark L.
Goldstein at (202) 512-2834 or goldsteinm@gao.gov. Contact points for
our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Relations can be
found on the last page of this statement. Michael Clements, Assistant
Director; Matt Barranca; Elizabeth Eisenstadt; Hannah Laufe; and Mindi
Weisenbloom also made key contributions to this statement.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] Pub. L. No. 111-5, 123 Stat. 115 (2009).
[2] Congress subsequently rescinded $300 million of the funding
provided for NTIA that had not been awarded previously. Pub. L. No.
111-226 § 302, 124 Stat. 2389, 2404 (2010).
[3] Of the $4.7 billion, up to $350 million was made available for the
purpose of developing and maintaining a nationwide map featuring the
availability of broadband service, with some funds available for
transfer to the Federal Communications Commission for the development
of a national broadband plan.
[4] GAO, Recovery Act: Further Opportunities Exist to Strengthen
Oversight of Broadband Stimulus Programs, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-823] (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 4,
2010), and Recovery Act: Agencies Are Addressing Broadband Program
Challenges, but Actions Are Needed to Improve Implementation, GAO-10-
80 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 16, 2009).
[5] GAO, Recovery Act: Preliminary Observations on the Implementation
of Broadband Programs, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-192T] (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 27,
2009).
[6] RUS received $2.5 billion for both grants and loans. For grants,
the face amount of each grant is charged against RUS budget authority.
Because loans, unlike grants, must be repaid to the government, RUS
uses a complex formula to calculate charges against its budget
authority. The Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 requires RUS to
account for the budgetary impact of loans by estimating the expected
net loss (or gain) of loans. This net amount, which is estimated by
calculating the net present value of all cash flows to and from RUS
over the lifetime of the loans, is referred to as the subsidy cost of
the loans. RUS must charge the subsidy cost of loans to its budget
authority.
[7] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-823].
[End of section]
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