SUBGRANT PROGRAM DOCUMENTS
The ConnectLA Team is pleased to release of the following documents related to the GUMBO 2.0, which represents the infrastructure portion of the federal BEAD program subgrant process. These documents are meant to provide supplemental information and guidance to all parties with an interest in the state’s GUMBO 2.0 program and does not modify Louisiana's approved Initial Proposal. All GUMBO 2.0 prospective participants should thoroughly review the Initial Proposal to familiarize themselves with all program requirements prior to submitting applications. The Pre-Qualification Application Guide is meant to be used as an aid when submitting required documentation during the Pre-Qualification window of the GUMBO 2.0 subgrant process.
PRE-QUALIFICATION WINDOW
The pre-qualification window opened on July 1, 2024 and closed on July 14, 2024 at 11:59 PM CST. Our team has begun the review process, and will reach out to applicants if further clarification is needed. The review process will last up to 30 days and conclude by August 14, 2024, after which applicants will be notified if they have met the required criteria to participate in the program.
If an ISP is exploring the idea of creating a consortium to apply for GUMBO 2.0 funds, you may submit a consortium pre-qualification application and a company specific pre-qualification application. However, as a reminder, the Anti-Collusion and Prohibited Communications Certification goes into effect July 31, 2024, and applies to all parties until a commitment to apply through the consortium application is made. Once decided, parties should formally notify the office of which pre-qualification application they intend to use, at which time the office will consider any other pre-qualification applications withdrawn.
It is imperative that all interested providers complete the prequalification process to participate in the GUMBO 2.0 program. Without prequalification status, interested providers will be unable to apply for GUMBO 2.0 grant funds.
GRANT BIDDING ROUNDS
Following the closing of the pre-qualification window, applicants who have submitted pre-qualification applications were invited to participate in a training on use of the Application Bidding Platform and the GUMBO 2.0/BEAD process. See slides from the training below for additional information.
Additionally, ConnectLA will host a "mock opening" for the BEAD Grant Award Management Platform. The purpose of the mock opening is to provide prospective subgrantees the opportunity to create familiarity with platform functionality, and allow users to ask questions ahead of the actual bidding process. As you will see in the schedule below, the mock opening rounds are shorter than the actual bidding rounds. Each organization is encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity.
Pre-mock opening activities:
- Based on the pre-qualification process, invitations to the Grant Award Management platform will be generated for the Administrative User of each organization.
- Invitations will be sent via email and will come from connectLAsupport@costquest.com. (Consider adding this to your safe senders list)
- The email invite will have two links:
- one for Grant Award Management platform, and
- one for Zendesk support for the Grant Award Management platform. (the Zendesk account is essential for support, we recommend setting this up now)
- Administrators can create their account early but will not have access to the platform until the Round 1 opens.
- Any difficulties setting up your account contact: support@connectla.zendesk.com
Mock Opening Schedule:
- Round 1 of mock opening begins at Monday July 29, 12 noon CDT
- Round 1 mock opening closes Wednesday, July 31, 5pm CDT (participants lose access)
- Friday August 2, 5pm CDT
- Notice of no-bid SPAs and any changes in reference funding
- Round 2 mock opening begins Monday August 5, 8:30am CDT
- Round 2 mock opening closes Wednesday August 7, 5pm CDT (participants lose access)
Support for the platform will be available during the mock opening. Tickets can be submitted at any time, and agents will respond/resolve tickets as expeditiously as possible.
All data added during the mock opening will be removed from the Grant Award Management system once the mock opening has been completed. The system data will not be retained for the actual bidding process.
APPROVED BEAD INITIAL PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS
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BEAD INITIAL PROPOSAL
Louisiana received a $1.355 billion allocation from the BEAD program, the eighth-largest in the nation and 10th-largest per capita. Louisiana was also the first in the country to receive NTIA approval of its Initial Proposal. This means that broadband construction projects will have a head start in bringing high-speed, reliable and affordable internet to every home, business and community anchor institution in the state.
While Vol. 1 of the state's Initial Proposal details Louisiana’s plans for a challenge process to determine all locations eligible for BEAD funding, Vol. 2 covers the specific actions the state will take to eliminate the digital divide.
ConnectLA is proud that we have set the pace for the country in terms of speed and execution in policy setting. Nearly a third of the content in our Initial Proposal has been incorporated into other states’ plans. This is a win for Louisianians and positions Louisiana as a leader among other states in eliminating the digital divide.
FIVE-YEAR ACTION PLAN
Louisiana's comprehensive Five-Year Action Plan lays out the priorities of the state, adheres to guidance set out by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and outlines how BEAD funds will be allocated throughout the state.
The plan is informed by the number of unserved and underserved households, businesses and community anchor institutions in the state, in addition to research conducted for the Digital Opportunity Plan. We invite you to read our goals for increasing access, adoption, affordability, digital opportunity and inclusion, digital skills and economic development.
READ THE FIVE-YEAR ACTION PLAN
BEAD Challenge Results
As a requirement of Louisiana's BEAD Initial Proposal Vol. 1, ConnectLA completed the Louisiana Statewide Broadband Challenge Process to determine eligible BEAD locations.
ConnectLA is committed to ensuring every Louisianian is able to access high-quality broadband service. During the fall of 2023, the office partnered with regional planning commissions and the Governor's Office of Rural Development to host stakeholder engagement sessions. A full briefing was provided on broadband efforts and the challenge process. Parish/municipal officials, non-profit organizations and internet service providers/electric co-operatives were eligible to participate in the process. The formal challenge process began Oct. 6, 2023 and ended on January 6, 2024, with results directly impacting location eligibility.
BEAD Challenge FAQs
As required by statute, the initial eligibility determinations for funding eligibility under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program are based on the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) National Broadband Map.
The BEAD State Challenge Process was designed to provide stakeholders in Louisiana with an opportunity to dispute the data from the National Broadband Map and challenge the eligibility of locations, based on the process approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
This challenge process was designed to take earlier in the process to ensure that the application and award process is based on the most accurate and up-to-date data available.
Under the BEAD program, the NTIA defined “Permissible Challengers” as broadband service providers, units of local governments, units of tribal governments, and non-profit organizations. Only these entity types were eligible to submit challenges, although they were allowed to submit data collected from residents
ConnectLA conducted the BEAD Challenge Process using the August 29, 2023, update of the FCC Broadband Availability Map, which is based on Version 2 of the FCC Broadband Serviceable Locations Fabric. Following the challenge process, ConnectLA migrated the challenge results to Version 3 of the Fabric and updated the locations with the February 20, 2024, update of the FCC Broadband Availability Map.
Challenges and rebuttals were submitted by Internet Service Providers, Non-profits, and units of local governments. These challenges and rebuttals were adjudicated by ConnectLA.
ConnectLA thoroughly reviewed each challenge and rebuttal that was submitted and made a decision to reject or sustain each challenge using the best available evidence.
ConnectLA is required to use the locations provided in the FCC Fabric as the authoritative dataset for the pool of possible eligible locations. If your location is not listed, please reach out to ConnectLA to discuss how your location can get added to the map through the FCC challenge process.
Now that the challenge process is completed, the list of locations has been finalized pending NTIA approval. The BEAD funding is required to be distributed based on this final list of locations.
No, speed tests were not accepted in the BEAD challenge process to dispute the download or upload speeds of Internet service. However, data on the latency from performance tests were allowed in the BEAD challenge process.
Now that the challenge process is completed, the list of locations has been finalized pending NTIA approval. The BEAD funding is required to be distributed based on this final list of locations.
Please submit all questions to Connect@la.gov.
BEAD Challenge Resources
This document provides an overview of the challenge process and how to participate.
The Challenge Process User Guide, created by Ready, outlines how to participate in the BEAD challenge process.
This document provides an overview and timeline of the challenge process.
Federal Deduplication Data Dictionary
LA GUMBO Deduplication Data Dictionary
Challenges - Location is a CAI (Missing)
These are challenge files from NTIA. Challengers will need to join the Location IDs from unserved and underserved files with the relevant location IDs in the deduplication files. Doing so will allow challengers to build an internal map for analysis.
In this webinar discussion, Deputy Director Thomas Tyler outlines the challenge process and answers questions.
Challenge Process Office Hours #1
Recording of office hours webinar from October 25th
BEAD Sub-Project Areas (SPAs)
The Final Sub-Project Areas are based upon BEAD eligible locations.
Draft Sub-Project Areas were released on April 18, 2024 for solicitation of public comments through May 18, 2024. ConnectLA utilized comments received to assist in revisions before the release of final SPAs and reference funding to best achieve the goals of the BEAD program in LA, as provided in approved IP Volume 2. A summary of the comments received and the resolutions taken are included in the FAQ document linked above. As a result:
- The number of sub-project areas (SPAs) increased from 1,752 to 1,854.
- The number of BEAD eligible broadband serviceable locations (BSLs) decreased from 149,989 to 140,190.
BSL – Broadband Serviceable Location – a business or residential location in the United States at which fixed broadband Internet access service is, or can be, installed. (BEAD NOFO, Section I, C.)
SPA – Sub Project Area – A set of BEAD eligible broadband serviceable locations that include unserved, underserved and community anchor locations to function as an application unit for GUMBO 2.0 applications (Sections 2.4.1 and 2.4.6 of Initial Proposal Volume 2, FAQ V2, #12a)
Reference Funding – Reference funding values are determined based on a standardized deployment cost model applied using consistent input values statewide. (Section 2.4.6 of Initial Proposal Volume 2, FAQ V2, #12g)
Parish Name | Total BSLs in Parish | Number of SPAs | Total BEAD Eligible Locations in SPA | Percent BEAD Eligible within Parish | Total Reference Funding |
Acadia | 26,843 | 20 | 1,980 | 7.4% | $6,839,353 |
Allen | 10,438 | 23 | 1,012 | 9.7% | $6,185,913 |
Ascension | 50,158 | 17 | 280 | 0.6% | $2,516,204 |
Assumption | 10,103 | 20 | 363 | 3.6% | $3,952,139 |
Avoyelles | 19,032 | 30 | 4,739 | 24.9% | $12,822,965 |
Beauregard | 16,553 | 47 | 3,625 | 21.9% | $16,748,736 |
Bienville | 7,682 | 26 | 1,320 | 17.2% | $8,219,165 |
Bossier | 49,410 | 45 | 6,526 | 13.2% | $23,985,785 |
Caddo | 101,480 | 41 | 3,986 | 3.9% | $20,039,965 |
Calcasieu | 86,313 | 48 | 8,181 | 9.5% | $25,630,403 |
Caldwell | 4,866 | 23 | 471 | 9.7% | $6,292,255 |
Cameron | 4,226 | 24 | 286 | 6.8% | $4,746,387 |
Catahoula | 5,437 | 37 | 1,101 | 20.3% | $10,904,367 |
Claiborne | 7,774 | 31 | 1,145 | 14.7% | $8,543,757 |
Concordia | 9,740 | 28 | 1,100 | 11.3% | $8,886,132 |
De Soto | 13,879 | 27 | 2,443 | 17.6% | $16,548,082 |
East Baton Rouge | 161,682 | 14 | 3,119 | 1.9% | $10,179,769 |
East Carroll | 3,292 | 26 | 256 | 7.8% | $6,452,180 |
East Feliciana | 8,624 | 19 | 3,569 | 41.4% | $10,154,076 |
Evangeline | 15,227 | 32 | 3,421 | 22.5% | $14,549,317 |
Franklin | 9,378 | 19 | 556 | 5.9% | $2,538,879 |
Grant | 9,498 | 34 | 2,492 | 26.2% | $8,095,599 |
Iberia | 29,717 | 22 | 3,513 | 11.8% | $8,099,591 |
Iberville | 13,344 | 29 | 583 | 4.4% | $9,152,025 |
Jackson | 7,688 | 25 | 2,241 | 29.1% | $8,758,192 |
Jefferson | 147,114 | 16 | 1,912 | 1.3% | $4,254,509 |
Jefferson Davis | 15,154 | 27 | 2,140 | 14.1% | $10,062,255 |
Lafayette | 95,009 | 14 | 2,696 | 2.8% | $4,630,812 |
Lafourche | 39,865 | 38 | 958 | 2.4% | $6,828,963 |
LaSalle | 6,604 | 27 | 353 | 5.3% | $7,543,117 |
Lincoln | 18,386 | 24 | 3,002 | 16.3% | $7,710,829 |
Livingston | 56,935 | 15 | 1,663 | 2.9% | $7,177,613 |
Madison | 4,336 | 28 | 355 | 8.2% | $9,137,946 |
Morehouse | 12,726 | 23 | 513 | 4.0% | $4,169,492 |
Natchitoches | 17,745 | 45 | 1,904 | 10.7% | $14,565,578 |
Orleans | 123,351 | 11 | 755 | 0.6% | $3,230,853 |
Ouachita | 61,242 | 30 | 4,668 | 7.6% | $12,644,064 |
Plaquemines | 9,623 | 55 | 3,771 | 39.2% | $19,568,007 |
Pointe Coupee | 11,133 | 30 | 1,235 | 11.1% | $12,431,438 |
Rapides | 57,817 | 72 | 8,783 | 15.2% | $23,835,369 |
Red River | 4,232 | 20 | 1,399 | 33.1% | $5,530,604 |
Richland | 9,210 | 28 | 1,601 | 17.4% | $9,626,594 |
Sabine | 14,818 | 50 | 2,750 | 18.6% | $12,094,282 |
St. Bernard | 16,825 | 11 | 87 | 0.5% | $1,241,017 |
St. Charles | 20,630 | 16 | 213 | 1.0% | $4,504,420 |
St. Helena | 5,761 | 12 | 1,454 | 25.2% | $4,685,335 |
St. James | 8,809 | 18 | 248 | 2.8% | $3,876,362 |
St. John the Baptist | 17,207 | 13 | 141 | 0.8% | $3,189,736 |
St. Landry | 39,109 | 25 | 1,436 | 3.7% | $8,981,070 |
St. Martin | 25,116 | 51 | 2,875 | 11.4% | $16,436,713 |
St. Mary | 23,612 | 31 | 2,101 | 8.9% | $12,112,700 |
St. Tammany | 106,884 | 34 | 3,150 | 2.9% | $13,910,047 |
Tangipahoa | 54,797 | 29 | 2,423 | 4.4% | $11,496,645 |
Tensas | 3,537 | 32 | 667 | 18.9% | $9,155,532 |
Terrebonne | 42,246 | 52 | 526 | 1.2% | $7,750,119 |
Union | 11,527 | 36 | 2,132 | 18.5% | $7,474,695 |
Vermilion | 26,946 | 47 | 7,202 | 26.7% | $39,564,522 |
Vernon | 17,858 | 47 | 3,282 | 18.4% | $13,208,862 |
Washington | 20,644 | 32 | 7,205 | 34.9% | $13,167,493 |
Webster | 19,819 | 30 | 2,715 | 13.7% | $13,091,619 |
West Baton Rouge | 11,613 | 11 | 538 | 4.6% | $4,657,742 |
West Carroll | 5,342 | 15 | 487 | 9.1% | $4,292,725 |
West Feliciana | 4,895 | 24 | 1,212 | 24.8% | $4,876,673 |
Winn | 7,591 | 28 | 1,330 | 17.5% | $8,479,833 |
Totals | 1,878,452 | 1,854 | 140,190 | $642,037,418 |