[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 96 (Wednesday, May 19, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27984-27986]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-11898]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
[Docket No.: 0907141137-0222-10]
RIN 0660-ZA28
Broadband Technology Opportunities Program
AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of Funds Availability; Reopening of Application Filing
Window for Broadband Technology Opportunities Program Comprehensive
Community Infrastructure Projects.
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SUMMARY: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) announces the limited reopening of the Comprehensive Community
Infrastructure (CCI) application filing window for the Broadband
Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) that the agency established
pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(Recovery Act). Entities that have received waiver authority from the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to use the 763-768/793-798 MHz
(700 MHz) public safety broadband spectrum by the date of this Notice
are invited to file a BTOP application and request BTOP funding.
DATES: All applications for funding CCI projects under this Notice must
be submitted between June 1, 2010, at 8 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time
(EDT) and July 1, 2010, at 5 p.m. EDT.
ADDRESSES: All applicants are required to submit their applications
electronically at https://applyonline.broadbandusa.gov. See
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for more details. The CCI application package
for electronic submissions is available at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa/ broadbandusa/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general inquiries regarding BTOP,
contact Anthony G. Wilhelm, PhD, Director, BTOP, Office of
Telecommunications and Information Applications, NTIA, U.S. Department
of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW., HCHB, Room 4887,
Washington, DC 20230; BTOP Help Desk e-mail: [email protected]; BTOP
Help Desk telephone: 1-202-482-2048. Additional information regarding
BTOP, including information regarding compliance issues, may be
obtained at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa/.
Authority: This Notice is issued pursuant to the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. 111-5, 123 Stat. 115
(2009).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
A. Second Round of BTOP Funding
On January 22, 2010, NTIA published a Notice of Funds Availability
and Solicitation of Applications (Second NOFA) in the Federal Register
announcing general policy and application procedures for the second
round of BTOP funding.\1\ The filing deadline for CCI applications
under the Second NOFA closed on March 26, 2010.\2\ Under the Recovery
Act, one of the core purposes of BTOP is to fund the advancement of
broadband initiatives to support public safety agencies.\3\ The
Recovery Act also provides that the Assistant Secretary for
Communications and Information may make competitive grants to
``construct and deploy broadband facilities that improve public safety
broadband communications services.'' \4\ While NTIA received a limited
number of public safety-related applications in the second round, some
applicants may have been deterred from filing because, inter alia, they
lacked the legal authority to use the 700 MHz public safety broadband
spectrum.
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\1\ Notice of Funds Availability and Solicitation of
Applications, 75 FR 3792 (Jan. 22, 2010).
\2\ Notice of Funds Availability; Extension of Application
Closing Deadline for Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (CCI)
Projects, 75 FR 10464 (Mar. 8, 2010); Notice of Funds Availability;
Extension of Application Closing Deadline for Comprehensive
Community Infrastructure (CCI) Projects, 75 FR 14131 (Mar. 24,
2010).
\3\ American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law
No. 111-5, Sec. 6001(b), 123 Stat. 115, 512-13 (2009) (Recovery
Act).
\4\ Id. Sec. 6001(g)(5), 123 Stat. at 514.
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B. Reopening the Application Window
On May 11, 2010, the FCC adopted an order authorizing the early
deployment of public safety broadband networks in the 700 MHz public
safety broadband spectrum for a number of entities that had petitioned
for waiver authority for such relief.\5\ To further the objectives of
the Recovery Act and to help ensure that the core statutory purposes of
BTOP are achieved, NTIA finds that, given these extraordinary
circumstances, a limited reopening of the CCI application filing window
is in the best interest of the federal government.\6\ Accordingly, NTIA
reopens the CCI application filing window to those entities that meet
the eligibility criteria in the Second NOFA and that have received
authority from the FCC by the date of this Notice to seek to use the
700 MHz public safety broadband spectrum to deploy a public safety
broadband system.\7\ NTIA is limiting eligibility under this Notice to
this group of entities to help ensure that all BTOP grant funds can be
obligated by the statutory deadline of September 30, 2010; \8\ to
provide the public safety community with the opportunity to obtain
funding for an initial set of networks to support current NTIA efforts
to test new standards and technologies that eventually will support a
nationwide interoperable public safety broadband network; and to
provide an opportunity to submit an application to entities that may
have been discouraged from applying for BTOP funding because they did
not have the legal authority to use the 700 MHz spectrum. Entities that
received a FCC waiver and that already have applied for the second
round of BTOP funding are not required to reapply during this new
window.
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\5\ Requests for Waiver of Various Petitioners to Allow the
Establishment of 700 MHz Interoperable Public Safety Wireless
Broadband Networks, Order, PS Dkt. No. 06-229, FCC 10-79 (adopted
May 11, 2010) (Waiver Order), available at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-79A1.pdf.
\6\ In the Second NOFA, NTIA anticipated that it might wish to
reopen the application window at some point in the future and
specifically put applicants on notice that there may be another
solicitation. See Second NOFA, 75 FR at 3799.
\7\ See Waiver Order, at Appendix A.
\8\ See Recovery Act Sec. 6001(d)(2), 123 Stat. at 513.
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C. 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband Network
A public safety broadband network utilizing the 700 MHz public
safety broadband spectrum will increase the nationwide interoperable
broadband communications capabilities of first responders and public
safety agencies by improving the ability of public safety entities to
utilize applications made
[[Page 27985]]
possible by broadband technologies. It also will improve public safety
communications by providing dedicated broadband capacity for public
safety uses and creating a statutorily required interoperability
framework for use across the United States. The FCC's National
Broadband Plan recognized that broadband technologies have the
potential to revolutionize emergency response wireless mobile
communications and outlined recommendations for moving 700 MHz spectrum
activities forward.\9\ Consistent with the FCC's recommendation, NTIA
and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are
working on a joint initiative, the Public Safety 700 MHz Demonstration
Network within the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR)
program, to provide a platform to test and evaluate systems and to help
enable deployment of a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband
network.\10\ This limited reopening of the BTOP CCI application filing
window will help support the efforts of NTIA and NIST and the testing,
development, and implementation of a 700 MHz public safety broadband
network.
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\9\ Federal Communications Commission (FCC) National Broadband
Plan, ch. 16 (March 17, 2010), available at http://download.broadband.gov/plan/national-broadband-plan-chapter-16-public-safety.pdf.
\10\ See Public Safety Communications Research, Projects, at
http://www.pscr.gov/projects/broadband/700mhz/700mhz.php.
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Pursuant to the eligible cost provisions set forth in the Second
NOFA, NTIA may award grants that will fund critical expenditures
related to the deployment of a 700 MHz public safety broadband network,
including the acquisition of broadband radio access network components
(such as antennas, base station nodes, transceivers, amplifiers, and
remote radio heads) and costs associated with the hardening of existing
cell sites (such as installing backup power and enhancing security
measures).\11\ Grant awards also may be used to fund costs to lease
wireline or wireless network infrastructure from existing commercial
infrastructure to facilitate broadband connectivity for a 700 MHz
public safety broadband network, including backhaul from cell sites and
any associated installation charges paid to a vendor.
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\11\ See Second NOFA, 75 FR at 3799.
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By facilitating the expansion of broadband communications services
to public safety agencies, BTOP advances the objectives of the Recovery
Act to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances,
to invest in infrastructure that will provide long-term economic
benefits, and to support stabilization of state and local government
budgets in an effort to avoid reductions in essential services.
Deployment of a public safety broadband network in the 700 MHz band
also will enhance emergency response capabilities through support of
broadband-enabled applications, including: streaming video
(surveillance, remote monitoring); digital imaging; automatic vehicle
location; computer-aided dispatching; electronic mail; mapping and GPS;
remote database access; report management system access; text
messaging; telemetry/remote diagnostics; and Web access.
Moreover, the 700 MHz public safety broadband network will support
applications that existing narrowband and wideband data technologies
cannot support. The network will allow public safety personnel to
exchange mission-critical information in real time on a common
operating platform, enhancing incident response and first-responder
safety.
D. FCC 700 MHz Waiver Order
In 2007, the FCC chose the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corporation
(PSST) as the Public Safety Broadband Licensee for the 10 MHz of 700
MHz public safety broadband spectrum.\12\ On May 11, 2010, the FCC
adopted an order that permits certain state and local governmental
entities to deploy public safety broadband systems using the 700 MHz
spectrum licensed to the PSST.\13\ The FCC's order now allows these
entities to expeditiously enter into leases with the PSST for use and
development of public safety broadband networks. Applicants filing
under this Notice are subject to the provisions of the FCC's order and
any subsequent rules adopted by the FCC regarding the use of 700 MHz
spectrum, including those rules that are designed to ensure
compatibility and interoperability of public safety networks.\14\
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\12\ Implementing a Nationwide, Broadband, Interoperable Public
Safety Network in the 700 MHz Band, Order, 22 F.C.C. Rcd. 20453
(2007).
\13\ See Waiver Order.
\14\ Id. at 12-13. For example, the FCC requires the entities
subject to the order to adhere to the technical criteria that the
Emergency Response Interoperability Center will establish through
rules adopted by the FCC or the Public Safety and Homeland Security
Bureau.
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By reopening the CCI application window only to eligible entities
that have received waiver authority from the FCC to enter into a lease
to use 700 MHz spectrum, NTIA acknowledges that these entities may have
been discouraged from filing a BTOP application during the first two
BTOP funding rounds because they did not have the legal authority to
use the spectrum before the filing deadlines. Because applicants filing
under this Notice will be subject to the same general policies and
terms as other CCI applicants in the second round, this limited
reopening will not advantage or disadvantage either those entities
eligible under this Notice or those that have filed applications
earlier under the Second NOFA.
II. Application and Submission Information
A. Second NOFA Requirements
All applicants submitting BTOP applications pursuant to this Notice
are subject to the requirements set forth in the Recovery Act and the
Second NOFA. In addition, applicants should review the application
guidance, workshop presentations, and ``Frequently Asked Questions''
located at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa/ to help them submit
their applications and understand BTOP requirements. As required by the
CCI application, applicants must provide documentation that their
request for a waiver authorizing use of the 700 MHz public safety
spectrum has been granted by the FCC. NTIA will reject applications
from entities other than those who are authorized to use the 700 MHz
public safety broadband spectrum.
B. Filing Deadline
The application window will be open for filing between June 1,
2010, at 8 a.m. EDT and July 1, 2010, at 5 p.m. EDT. NTIA recognizes
that this is a short application window given the complexity of CCI
projects, particularly if they include a 700 MHz component.
Nevertheless, to ensure that NTIA can fairly administer the program,
comply with the requirements set forth in the Second NOFA, and obligate
funds before September 30, 2010, NTIA will limit the filing window to
this period.
C. Filing Instructions
As stated in the Second NOFA, electronic submissions of
applications will allow for the expeditious review of an applicant's
proposal consistent with the goals of the Recovery Act. As a result,
all applicants are required to submit their applications electronically
at https://applyonline.broadbandusa.gov. The electronic application
system will provide a date-and-time-stamped confirmation number that
will serve as proof of submission. Please note that applications will
not be accepted via paper, facsimile machine transmission,
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electronic mail, or other media format. Applicants, however, may
request a waiver of these filing instructions pursuant to Section X.N.
of the Second NOFA.\15\
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\15\ Additional guidance for seeking a waiver of the electronic
filing requirements can be found in the CCI Grant Guidance at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa/. Note that the CCI Grant Guidance
includes key submission dates. These dates have been superseded by
the dates contained in this Notice.
Dated: May 13, 2010.
Anna M. Gomez,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information.
[FR Doc. 2010-11898 Filed 5-18-10; 8:45 am]
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