Notice of Funding Availability #008 (Expired)

NOTE: The application window is now closed.

OFFICIAL NOTICE. November 9, 2023. The Department of Management has announced the Notice of Intent to Award for Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) #008 for the Empower Rural Broadband Grant Program making available up to $148,960,000 for broadband expansion in Iowa. This opportunity is now closed. 

Download the Notice of Intent to Award for NOFA #008

Download Amendment #1 to Notice of Intent to Award for NOFA #008 (Posted as of November 9, 2023)

Purpose

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 Eligible Unserved or Underserved Locations in the State through the installation of Broadband Infrastructure. Funds for this grant round have been allocated from the American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) Capital Projects Fund ("CPF") to provide a substantial infusion of resources to help turn the tide on the pandemic, address its economic fallout, and lay the foundation for a strong and equitable recovery

Program Design

The funds available for Award under this NOFA is up to $148,960,000 and shall be distributed to Applicants proposing projects that will Facilitate Broadband at 100/100 or faster, or 100/20 or faster in Eligible Service Locations. The total amount of CPF that may be requested may not exceed 80% of the actual or originally estimated (whichever is less) Total Project Costs.

The Agency is seeking proposals from Responsible Applicants to Facilitate broadband service to Eligible Service Locations within the State of Iowa by no later than September 30, 2026. Applications submitted to this NOFA must be designed to provide last-mile broadband service to Eligible Service Locations that: (1) reliably meets or exceeds 100/100 Broadband; or (2) in cases where it is not practicable, because of the excessive cost of the Project, or geography or topography of the area to be served by the Project, to provide Broadband that reliably meets or exceeds 100/20 Broadband. However, 100/20 Broadband Projects must be scalable to 100/100 Broadband within three years of the Project Completion date.

Eligible Service Locations have been determined using Map V5 as locations to which no provider offers service at speeds greater than or equal to 100/20 Broadband consistent with the CPF Guidance established by the U.S. Department of Treasury. The Eligible Service Locations must not have been previously awarded Federal or State broadband incentives for build out greater than 100/20 Broadband.

The scoring rubric has been posted in conjunction with the pre-issuance of the NOFA (see Exhibit A Section 3.2 Scoring Rubric) to allow Applicants to account for the points allotted to each category when determining their Project area(s).

Broadband Intervention Zones

This NOFA gives special consideration to Broadband Intervention Zones (“Zones”) across the State of Iowa. These Zones were established under Invitation to Qualify (“ITQ”) #001, which permitted communities across the State of Iowa to identify areas of critical need for broadband investment. Until now, all NOFA offerings allowed broadband providers to select where they wanted to build based on available DOM mapping data that identified areas lacking broadband. Although this process has resulted in significant buildout throughout the state, there remains a perception that certain areas in the State perpetually go unserved for a variety of reasons. The ITQ attempted to address this perceived problem by affording communities an opportunity to identify geographic areas of concern that both need access to Broadband and are motivated to attract Broadband providers to the area. Broadband Intervention Zones identified through the ITQ process are now being used to prioritize NOFA #008 Broadband application awards.

Ninety-six Zones have been identified. Within each of these Zones, providers that agree to build to 80% or more of the Eligible Service Locations within any Zone will receive additional points and higher levels of state matching funds under this NOFA.  Providers are strongly encouraged to examine the Zones as set forth within the Project Selection Tool (with the map located at the bottom of this page).

Applications that propose to Facilitate broadband services to at least 80% of Eligible Service Locations within any Zone will rank higher under this NOFA than any Application that does not.

Schedule of Important Dates

The timeline for Notice of Funding Availability #008 including steps and dates, are described below (all dates are subject to change):

Applications Received

91 applications were deemed submitted in response to NOFA #008. The public, redacted versions of each applications are provided below. In the Application column, click the link 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 award from the Agency pursuant to the Notice of Intent To Award for this opportunity upon final issuance, this column will be marked as "Awarded."

Program Documentation

Information concerning the grant application process, including all application materials, agreements, and program information are provided below. All Applications to this NOFA are required to be submitted electronically through the Iowa Grants System, as part of Funding Opportunity #512252. 

• Notice of Intent to Award for NOFA #008 (Posted as of October 30, 2023)
  • Amendment #1 to Notice of Intent to Award for NOFA #008 (Posted as of November 9, 2023)
• Exhibit A - Notice of Funding Availability (Updated as of July 14, 2023)
  • Addendum #1 to NOFA #008 - Written Responses to Questions (Posted as of July 14, 2023)
• Broadband Grants Core Application (Updated as of July 14, 2023), including
  • Exhibit B - Project Worksheet 
  • Exhibit C - CPF Forms 
  • Exhibit D - Budget Plan 
• Exhibit E - Grant Agreement  (Updated as of November 20, 2023), the following changes include:
  • Ownership & Federal Interest. Attachment B, section 3. 
  • Audits of Federally-Funded Contracts: Audit of Non-Federal Entity. Attachment B, section 6
  • Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), as a party to the agreement, is replaced with Department of Management (DOM) 
• Exhibit F - Certification, Authorization, and Release of Information (Updated as of July 14, 2023)
• Exhibit G - Request for Confidentiality - Form 22
• Exhibit H - Application Checklist
• Exhibit I - Wireless Project Design Worksheet
• Exhibit J - Iowa Grants Registration and Application Instructions (Posted as of July 14, 2023)
• Exhibit K - Project Selection and Data Export/Import Instructions (Updated as of July 14, 2023)
• Exhibit L - High Cost Project Worksheet (coming soon)
• Exhibit M - Large Project Worksheet (coming soon)
• Exhibit N - Project Location Challenge Form (Posted as of September 26, 2023)
• NOFA #008 Grants Management Policies and Procedures Guide (coming soon) 
• Invitation to Qualify #001 - Broadband Intervention Zones

Instructional Videos for Applicants

The following instructional videos have been published for Applicants who are interested in receiving additional information about the application process under this NOFA. Note: The links below redirect users to YouTube.

• NOFA 8 Pre-Application Conference
  • NOFA 8 Pre-Application Conference Slides
• NOFA 8 Core Application Tutorial Updated 7/20/23

(Posted as of October 30, 2023)

The Agency posted the submitted applications for NOFA #008 and opened a project location challenge process which permitted third parties to certify to the Agency that they had completed buildout since the as-of date of Broadband Availability Map V5 (8/02/2022) and as a result should be excised from an Applicant’s project area.

The Agency made a determination by reviewing the following factors:

1. The challenged location(s) were within a NOFA 8 Applicant's project area,
2. The Challenger provided at least one form of required evidence
3. Whether the FCC Location ID correlates to an IA Location ID, and
4. 1st Party Location Challenges as indicated in Exhibit B of a given Application

Download Project Location Challenge Decisions (Posted as of October 30, 2023)

Open NOFA #008 Map Locations In A New Window

Map of Awarded Areas