During Round 1, BBCGi assisted a number of clients in preparing their funding applications to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) stimulus funding. Between July 1 and August 14, 2009, BBCGi collected data on nearly two million households across the country to determine broadband availability, broadband penetration, and competitive providers.

For Round 2, BBCGi has adapted its methodologies to meet the specific reporting criteria for both RUS and NTIA applications.

BBCGi is uniquely qualified to support companies and government entities that are interested in applying for broadband stimulus funding. Using our data analysis and methodology, BBCGi has assisted clients to understand what it takes to qualify for funding and how to complete the necessary applications.

• BBCGi can make the necessary determinations of served/unserved/underserved and remote/rural/non-rural for our clients. Our data can be leveraged to more effectively define service areas with optimum levels of determinations and subscription rates, as well as to provide the basic data required for completing applications.
• BBCGi can quickly survey the proposed funded service area to determine whether a specific Census Block Group (CBG) meets the criteria for unserved or underserved, as outlined in both the BTOP and the BIP NOFAs on January 15, 2010. BBCGi can deploy a combination of proprietary network testing, as well as use existing provider knowledge to determine whether a specific CBG or funding service meets the eligibility criteria for RUS or NTIA.
• BBCGi can help with the construction of maps by CBG, as well as the geographic and demographic descriptions of the proposed funded service area. BBCGi can take city names, lists of ZIP codes, lists of addresses (or other formats as needed) and provide the list of Census Designated Communities (CDCs) required by the BIP NOFA and the Census Blocks (CBs) required by the BTOP NOFA to properly identify the proposed funded service area.
• BBCGi can help our clients understand who will evaluate the application and how, and provide critical support, as needed, throughout the evaluation process, including providing the necessary data to improve your application score.

Whether you are a new applicant or someone who needs to improve your application or someone entering Due Diligence who needs additional research to substantiate your stated designations, BBCGi can help you achieve your funding goals for the expansion of broadband capabilities.

Completing Your Application

There are numerous requirements in the BIP/BTOP application to define the service area(s), provide the methodology for determining which areas are rural, remote, unserved or underserved, and supplement this with detailed demographics about the service area.

BBCGi tools supported Round 1 applicants with the following activities and will quickly provide similar support for Round 2 applicants as soon as the application details are available:

• Define your service area in terms of Census Blocks (Application Section 13/14)
• Map your proposed service area using the Broadband USA Mapping Tool (Application Section 12)
• Provide the following data for your service area and each listed Census Designated Place (CDP) in your service area (Application Sections 13/14):
  • Designate as served/underserved/unserved
  • Designate as rural/non-rural/ remote
  • Number of Square Miles
  • Population
  • Number of households
  • Number of businesses
  • Number of Critical Communities
• Determine if your application is BIP eligible: "does at least 75% of the proposed funded service area qualify as underserved or unserved rural area" - NOFA excerpt (Application Section 7)
• Provide the methodology for making these determinations (Application Section 17)
• List the current service providers and their offerings (Application Section 21 - Attachment C)
• Determine new Subscriber rates based on your proposed offerings (Application Section 27)

Collecting and Analyzing the Data

BBCGi utilizes purchased commercial demographic data, historic broadband availability data (licenses, franchises, FCC reports, and others), data mining of the web, and rapid surveys, along with proprietary software to determine both the availability and subscription rates at the CDC level. Once the applicant defines the service area (city names, lists of ZIP codes, lists of addresses or other formats as needed), BBCGi overlays this with CDC data and determines whether the service area meets the criteria for 75% rural, remote, unserved, and underserved.

BBCGi's expert analysis can then be leveraged to make important targeting decisions. For example, data shows how the adjacent census blocks can affect the levels of availability and subscription, or change the amount of rural content, thus enabling the applicant to define the proposed service area to more effectively meet application requirements. This data analysis and methodology makes it possible to defend the application during all phases of the evaluation and optimize your score by accurately determining your application's eligibility criteria.

Timing and Cost Considerations

BBCGi has a long, successful history of delivering complex solutions and market data collection in a timely and cost-effective manner. Each project will receive individual attention and will only be accepted if BBCGi is certain that it can deliver quality data (on time) to the client. Additionally, beyond the proposed funding application, BBCGi is prepared to continue to support our clients through the due diligence and incumbent carrier review phases to help ensure that the proposed funding applications have the best opportunity for success.