Unpacking Approved BEAD Volume 2s: Mississippi

BEAD
funding
Author

Michael Santorelli

Published

August 31, 2024

NTIA recently approved Mississippi’s Initial Proposal Volume 2. The ACLP compared the final version with the version MS submitted to NTIA last fall. A redlined comparison is available here. The following changes were evident:

Subgrantee Selection Process

Scoring - Minimal BEAD Outlay

The state increased the number of points available in this category from 30 to 35. It has also clarified that points will be awarded on a sliding scale relative to the proposal with the lowest Net BEAD Outlay, i.e., total project cost less match share.

Scoring - Fair Labor Practices

The state reduced the number of points available in this category from 15 to 10. Full points will be awarded to this committing to comply with all relevant labor laws.

Secondary Criteria

The state made a number of changes to these categories for priority projects (similarly extensive changes were made to the secondary criteria for non-priority projects; the following only summarizes changes for priority project scoring).

  • Speed to Deployment - points available increased from 5 to 8, with max points going to projects completed within 18 months.
  • Added a Community Support category with 8pts available. Points will be awarded based on support letters from citizens and local officials and other metrics.
  • Added a Scalability Category with 9pts available. Points awarded based on the type of network design (max pts to XPON), the robustness of plans for scaling the physical network infrastructure, and the robustness of route and disaster planning.
  • Removed all other previous secondary criteria categories.

Low-Cost Option

The state adjusted its acceptable price range for the low-cost option by changing it from $30-$65/month to $30-$60/month. Otherwise, most other aspects of the option parameters remain the same.