NTIA Announces Planned Use of Portion of Remaining BEAD Funds

Key Takeaways

On September 3, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the availability of additional funding under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program to serve remaining locations unserved by high-speed internet. The announcement, which was accompanied by a Supplemental Deployment Policy Notice detailing the next steps, represents a green light on a portion of BEAD program funding that was reserved from use after the Benefit of the Bargain bidding round administered by states last year following the BEAD program’s restructuring guidance issued in June of 2025.
 

Counties remain in support of federal policies and program that help close the digital divide by subsidizing the deployment of high-speed broadband infrastructure in unconnected and underserved areas. 
 

Read the notice here

What’s in the announcement?
 

The NTIA details how states and territories can access additional BEAD funding to address locations that remain unserved due to defaults in other federal and state broadband programs, misreported locations by internet service providers and other changes to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Broadband DATA maps.
 

The NTIA lays out a several step process by which states must follow in order to access funds. States must first review the supplemental deployment locations list and verify that listed locations are unserved, including by conducting an abbreviated challenge process to which internet service providers, local governments and non-profits can participate. Notably, locations challenged during the abbreviated challenge process can only be removed due to planned or existing service – locations not already on the list are not permitted to be added through the challenge process.

Once the abbreviated challenge process is complete, states can send the locations list and proposed budget to the NTIA for approval, after which the NTIA will release approval for states to conduct a secondary Benefit of the Bargain round to solicit bids on the remaining locations. Results will then be reviewed and approved by the NTIA, before projects can proceed.
 

What does this mean for counties?
 

Counties strongly support the use of BEAD funding to continue to address unserved locations that lack high-speed internet access in communities across the country. Various factors – including federal funding project defaults – have prevented all available locations receiving the benefits of the BEAD program’s funding to support high-speed broadband infrastructure to serve those locations. 

Counties also support the use of non-deployment dollars to continue to advance state and local efforts to ensure residents can benefit from moder connectivity. NACo will continue to monitor for updates to additional use of remaining BEAD funds.