Notice of Funding Availability #004 (Expired)

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OFFICIAL NOTICE. December 23, 2020. The Department of Management, Division of Information Technology (DoIT) issued Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) #004 for the Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grant Program on October 23, 2020 making available up to $4,950,000 for broadband expansion in Iowa.  13 applications have been selected to receive funding under NOFA #004. 

View the List of Awarded Applications (174.98 KB) .pdf .

Overview

In accordance with Iowa Code section 8B.11 and corresponding implementing rules found at Iowa Administrative Code 129—22, the purpose of this NOFA is to solicit Applications from Communications Service Providers for Broadband Infrastructure Projects that will have the greatest overall effect of reducing or eliminating Unserved and Underserved Areas in the State through the installation of Broadband Infrastructure that Facilitates 25/3 Broadband or 100/20 Broadband in the Targeted Service Areas forming the basis of the Projects. Targeted Service Areas are areas within which, as of July 31, 2020: no Communications Service Provider Facilitated 25/3 Broadband; or that is materially underserved or without meaningfully available 25/3 Broadband. This grant round is based on renewed Targeted Service Area determinations published to an updated version of the Statewide Broadband Availability Map on October 28, 2020. These determinations and this map identify the geographic areas in the State of Iowa in which grant funds under this program are available.

For purposes of this NOFA and in accordance with 2020 Iowa Acts ch. 1078, section 12, the total amount of grants the Office Awards using the monies available under this NOFA shall be evenly distributed across the following categories (50% within each):

1. Projects that will result in the installation of Broadband Infrastructure that will Facilitate at least 25/3 Broadband but less than 100/20 Broadband.
2. Projects that will result in the installation of Broadband Infrastructure that will Facilitate 100/20 Broadband or faster.

The total amount of funds available for Award under this NOFA is up to: $4,950,000.

Schedule of Important Dates

The timeline for Notice of Funding Availability #004 including steps and dates are described in the schedule below.

Documentation

Information concerning the grant application process, including all application materials, agreements, and program information are provided below. All Applications to this NOFA were required to be submitted electronically through the Iowa Grants System (Funding Opportunity #380273  - Broadband Grant Program - Empower Rural Iowa - NOFA #004). 

• Notice of Intent To Award (NOIA) Issued - December 23, 2020 (174.98 KB) .pdf
• Exhibit A - Notice of Funding Availability (539.83 KB) .pdf
  • Addendum #1 to NOFA #004 and Written Responses to Questions (228.3 KB) .pdf
  • Addendum #2 to NOFA #004 Scoring Rubric (151.02 KB) .pdf
• Broadband Grants Core Application, including:
  • Exhibit B - Broadband Grants Program Project Worksheet
  • Exhibit C - Broadband Grants Program Qualitative Attributes Form
  • Exhibit D - Broadband Grants Program Budget Plan
  • Exhibit D.1 - Limited exception for Broadband Infrastructure Installed Outside of Targeted Service Areas
• Exhibit E - Broadband Grants Program Grant Agreement (72.94 KB) .docx
• Exhibit F - Certification, Authorization, and Release of Information (615.42 KB) .docx
• Exhibit G - Request for Confidentiality - Form 22 (615.14 KB) .docx
• Exhibit H - Application Check List (614.75 KB) .docx
• Exhibit I - Iowa Grants Registration and Application Instructions (3.49 MB) .pdf
• Exhibit J - Project Selection and Data Export/Import Instructions (438.72 KB) .pdf
• Grants Management Policies and Procedures Guide NOFA #4 (1.34 MB) .pdf

Applications Received

The information below includes all applications received by the Office under this NOFA including those that did not receive grant awards. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any application withdrawn from consideration prior to the NOIA issuance is not published here. Final project areas as represented in executed grant agreements is depicted on a map of NOFA #004 project areas. 

NOTE: To see the list of applications that were awarded grant funds download Notice of Intent To Award (NOIA) for NOFA #004 (174.98 KB) .pdf .

14 applications were deemed submitted in response to NOFA #004. The public, redacted versions of each application are provided below. In the Application Download column, click the link labeled zip next to each application to download a zip file containing the public version of that application. The Final Disposition column in the table below indicates the final status of the award. If an applicant received an awarded from the Office pursuant to the NOIA (174.98 KB) .pdf , this column will be marked as Awarded.

Awarded Applications

13 applications received a total of $4,950,000 under the Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grant Program NOFA #004. A summary of awarded applications is shown in the table below:

To see the list of applications that were awarded grant funds, download  Notice of Intent To Award (NOIA) for NOFA #004 (174.98 KB) .pdf .

Map of Awarded Locations

The map of awarded applications is shown below.