Stimulus Fund Dispersal Tightrope
A new government report out last week says that the $7.2 billion federal program, created for expanding broadband access to the most under served areas, is lacking the information and safeguards needed to avoid fraud and abuse.
As part of February’s federal stimulus package, the U.S. Commerce and Agriculture Departments were given stimulus funds to deploy broadband access across the country. The first round of funds, scheduled for dispersal Nov. 7, has now been delayed until December. Under a mandate issued by congress, the entire $7.2 billion must be distributed by September 30, 2010.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has warned that the programs “present a risk of waste, fraud, and abuse”, due in part to the timetable given to the U.S. Commerce and Agriculture Department which does not allow for sufficient time to create a complete national broadband map that would help to establish an adequate data base for areas still lacking in broadband service.
The Commerce Departments National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Agriculture Departments Rural Utilities Service, both responsible for distributing the stimulus funds, have had only 2 months to review over 2,200 applications that are scheduled for the first round of stimulus fund dispersal. This is an almost impossible task once we consider the California Public Utilities Commission and how it took 4 to 6 months to review only 54 applications that were submitted in a $100 million broadband program.
The GAO has recommended that these two agencies develop a way to review and measure the effectiveness of the recipients of these funds and how those effects will support Broadband going into 2010 and beyond.
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