The Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA) has drafted its Volume I of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, as required through the National Telecommunication and Information Administration’s BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity and supplemental guidance. Volume I includes critical components of PBDA’s plans for implementing BEAD grant funding, to ensure that all Pennsylvanians have access to high-speed internet. To draft the document, PBDA complied with NTIA requirements and guidance on elements such as the application process, scoring criteria, labor standards, and other requirements, as well as Commonwealth policies.
Volume I will be available for public review and comment for the required 30 days, from September 11, 2023 through October 10, 2023. The draft document can be accessed here. Upon receipt and consideration of comments to this document, PBDA will seek approval from its Board of Directors and submit the Volume for consideration to NTIA. Public viewers are asked to share comments through this form by 11:59 PM on October 10, 2023. Please note that Volume II will be available to view and comment on later this fall and prior to the NTIA submission deadline of December 27, 2023.